LONDON (AP) 鈥� The British government announced plans on Wednesday for 16 and 17-year-olds to face a voluntary overnight social media curfew, its latest attempt to reduce online harm for children.
It said that features that can keep users scrolling for longer, such as videos that automatically play one after another, will also be switched off by default for older teenagers.
Critics questioned the effectiveness of the measures given that the teenagers will be able to switch off these default settings.
The planned restrictions come a month after the government unveiled a , which is expected to cover platforms including Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X, but not messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal, from next spring.
The measures, which are one of the final acts of the government of , will have to be legislated upon. It is widely believed that his expected successor will follow through with the plans.
Kanishka Narayan, the U.K.’s online safety minister, downplayed talk that teenagers would just turn off optional social media curfews, saying it is a 鈥渄isservice鈥� to them to suggest they would.
He pointed to a recent pilot program involving more than 300 teenagers and parents across the U.K. that saw social media usage drop dramatically overnight as well as helping improve sleep and concentration.
鈥淚n October, for example, some platforms introduced these defaults of this sort 鈥� 90%-plus teenagers said to us that they鈥檝e maintained those defaults as well,鈥� he told Sky 小萝莉影视. 鈥淎nd so the evidence base is clear, the motivation is very clear and I wouldn鈥檛 do the disservice to teenagers of saying they鈥檙e all going to switch it off.鈥�
The NSPCC, U.K.’s leading children” charity, said the proposals will go some way to improving the experiences of young people on social media but that they will not be enough on their own.
鈥淯nless they鈥檙e followed up with further, stronger measures they will be a sticking plaster that fails to address the addictive design features which are driving high screentime and undermining children鈥檚 wellbeing,鈥� said NSPCC chief executive Chris Sherwood.
Rachel de Souza, the Children鈥檚 Commissioner for England, said the move was a 鈥減ositive step鈥� as young people want to try to cut down social media use but find it hard.
鈥淚 want to know more about how the policies, such as a curfew, will be delivered and will be watching closely to make sure they are effective,鈥� she said.
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