UK prime minister Keir Starmer has announced plans aimed at stopping people aged 16 and below from using social media services like X and Instagram. He has also suggested that the administration is preparing a similar approach for unlisted streaming websites.
Starmer intends to introduce this social media ban through legislation before the end of the year, with the measures expected to come into force in spring 2027.
The confirmed list of impacted platforms includes TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter / X, Snapchat, and Instagram. Neither Starmer nor his team has specified which streaming services they plan to include. In contrast, chat apps such as WhatsApp and Signal are explicitly called out as being left out of the ban.
A note published on the official government website further outlines the livestream ban, but it stays vague about the finer details and brings up more uncertainties. The statement says, “To help protect children online and address how widespread the problem is, the government will also put in place measures beyond a full ban on social media, including cutting-edge restrictions on harmful functions like livestreaming and messaging strangers involving children under 16,”. “These controls – which, along with the ban, go further than what any other countries have done – will be applied across a wider range of online services, such as gaming platforms.”
“Parents want their children to be safe and happy, but the online world has made that much harder over time,” said Starmer. “I’ve heard from families who are calling for urgent change, and we will act for them. That’s why we’re taking bolder steps than any country in the world—ending social media access for under-16s and rolling out broader protections to help restore childhood for children.”
Which gaming platforms could be caught by these rules? It seems likely that Twitch, YouTube, and Kick may be included. Could Discord, which may be among the biggest communication apps, be affected too? And what about this gaming platform—where users can open an account and take part in conversations with strangers through the comments on this article?
Games also make it easy for players to communicate. You can start up RuneScape, Arc Raiders, and many other games now and chat with people you don’t know. Will the UK push online game makers to apply these restrictions?
This ban appears to follow the approach introduced by Australia, which passed a similar ban in December, even though younger residents there raised significant objections. With more countries beginning to adopt similar policies, the impact on the gaming industry is becoming harder to ignore. After all, social media and streaming are among the main ways gaming firms reach younger audiences.