U.K. social media ban stokes fears of government surveillance

Tech NewsU.K. social media ban stokes fears of government surveillanceRequiring kids to prove their ages to access social media means all internet users will have to go through the same identity checks, critics warn.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00A 13-year-old boy looks at an iPhone on 2025 in Bath, England.Anna Barclay / Getty Images fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleJune 16, 2026, 3:40 PM EDTBy Angela YangA sweeping social media ban for kids under 16 in the United Kingdom is drawing concern from privacy advocates who say such measures will chill free speech online.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.The ban, announced Monday and expected to take full effect next spring, will require all users — not just the minors targeted — to go through age checks in order to access social media sites.These requirements, carried out via government IDs, credit cards or face scans, will apply to social platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X, but not messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal.The measure is part of a growing wave of legislation seeking to protect children from harmful content and possible child predators online. The push in the U.K. gained momentum after Australia became the first country to implement a law barring children under 16 from accessing major social media platforms.“Social media is making our children unhappy and unsafe,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a video shared Monday on social media. “And as a parent as much as a prime minister, I just can’t let that go on anymore, because our children deserve better.”News of the ban has faced the expected backlash from social media companies and tech moguls, who now face additional pressure to figure out how to restrict their products from kids. X owner Elon Musk was quick to call the law “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” “The real goal is to enable the UK government to track everyone,” Musk wrote on X...