The UK is preparing to fundamentally change its relationship between children and social media, and the world’s watching. From March 2027, under-16s in the UK will be banned from accessing a range of social media platforms, including Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok. Today, the UK communications regulator Ofcom announced its recommendations for how it should be done. 

To use social media, it says kids will need some form of photo or digital ID, bank checks, or face age verification to get in. Older teens and adults may need this too, even the baby-faced Gen-Xers like me, you never know. In all seriousness, social media is about to become off-limits in a way that could become even stricter than buying vapes, energy drinks or booze. Ofcom has also said it will publish circumventions to social media access in regular reports, so the ways to protect, as well as the ways around, will be a big focus in the year ahead. 

A focus on safety

As someone who has spent much of my career working in social media, this is an issue I care deeply about. From the moment I wrote the phrase social media on Wikipedia in 2006, I have seen my career intertwined with its definition ever since. 

More recently I have campaigned for better online safety in mainstream media. It began on the stage seven years ago when I gave a TED talk on our need to reboot social media, and has continued through my nonprofit, Raise, which advocates for a safer online world for young people and is run with a global group of volunteers. For these reasons, I find myself increasingly conflicted about the direction we’re heading in.

I’ve long argued that social media platforms need to do more to make their services safer for young people. But something about these upcoming changes don’t sit right with me. We’ve become so focused on preventing children from accessing social media that we risk losing sight of the more important ambition: making social media safer for them, and everyone else in the process.

We all know we shouldn’t do or see all the things that are online, but preventing access for teens, which can be easily circumvented, is something we all know will do little to make social media a safer place. 

How will online culture change?

We’re approaching a year where online culture will change forever, and for everyone. Teen culture is culture. Remove under-16s from the platforms and they’ll find new online places to chat, share and socialise. The worry is that it will be underground. Their influence will divert, and we’ll be all the worse for it. 

My real concern of course here is safety. My work on Raise is based on the premise that changes to features of harmful products are critical when limiting access can’t be assured. VPNs, second devices, altered ages, parental ‘permissions’, and more workarounds will mean that social media will remain in the palms of so many well into the future. We need changes, rather than blanket bans, and I’d like to help shape those for the good of all users, not just teens. 

All eyes on the UK

The world is watching what happens next, and the UK’s approach will be monitored closely by our own regulator, as well as global governments, regulators, tech companies, parents and young people, too. 

For those working in social media, it’s vital to keep an open mind and a close eye on progress, as this emerging space will need help to make it work. For all users of social media, things will move fast. Content will change, features won’t evolve the way they used to, and users will go elsewhere, that’s private online places, and offline too.

Through my work and that of my colleagues in the UK and globally, I’ll continue to contribute to the debate, challenge assumptions, and champion solutions that genuinely improve online safety. As ultimately, our ambition shouldn’t just be to keep children off social media; it should be to create a social media environment that’s safe enough for them to be part of.

We're helping brands design future-proof social strategies to let them navigate these uncertain times. If you're looking to understand what this means for you, get in touch at hello@battenhall.com.