UK government to trial social media ban for hundreds of teens

The U.K. government is trialing a social media ban for hundreds of teens, after the country's lawmakers rejected a blanket ban on under-16s using the platforms. The U.K.'s Department for Science, Innovation & Technology said Wednesday that it will run a six-week pilot with various bans ranging from curfews to time caps on certain apps on 300 teenagers across the country. The pilot is part of its broader digital wellbeing consultation launched this year, which has already received 30,000 responses from parents and children on the effect of social media on children's wellbeing, and closes on 26 May. It includes four types of interventions, with one set of parents instructed to use parental controls to remove or disable select apps; a second group to impose a one-hour cap per day for teens on the most popular apps, including Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat; a third set will impose a curfew between 9 p.m. to 7 a.m., and a final group will continue will not restrict social media access at all. This comes after U.K. lawmakers voted against a proposal to include a social media ban for under-16s in an existing piece of legislation, the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, earlier this month. watch now VIDEO 1:57 01:57 Tracking Europe's approach to social media bans for teenagers Europe Early Edition Shortly after, online safety organizations in the U.K., Ofcom and the Information Commissioner's Office, urged social media firms to ensure the protection of children online through measures, such as better use of age verification technologies and preventing strangers from contacting teens. Australia became the first country to ban social media for under-16-year-olds in December, and other countries began mulling something similar. Read more Australia banned social media for under 16s a month ago — here's how it's going AI chatbot firms face stricter regulation in online safety laws protecting children in the UK Meta urges Australia to rethink under-16 social media ban after b...