Dr Nomisha Kurian responds to plans for a social media ban for under-16s

Commenting on the Prime Minister’s announcement today proposing to ban social media for all children under 16, Assistant Professor, Dr Nomisha Kurian, says: “There is a strong child-safety rationale for this policy. We know that many young people encounter harmful content, unwanted contact, persuasive design and social pressures online, and a minimum-age approach may help reduce exposure, especially for younger adolescents. It also helps create new social norms and reduce peer pressure for children to be on social media. The evidence also suggests, however, that a ban will work best if it is part of a wider safety strategy – we need stronger platform design duties, safer defaults, limits on stranger contact and independent evaluation. And whether the ban is effective will depend on enforcement, age assurance, and platform design changes. Very importantly: we don't want children to end up being displaced into less regulated spaces.

“Australia gives us an important live example. It's too early to say for sure how effective the policy will be. What it does show is that governments are increasingly willing to move beyond voluntary platform action and set clearer boundaries around childhood and social media. The key lesson for the UK will be to evaluate implementation carefully, including age assurance, privacy protection, circumvention and whether platforms make meaningful design changes.

“For many children, risk isn't only in "social media”. It also comes up in the games they play, live-stream messages, the invisible recommendation systems shaping their feeds, location-sharing and contact with unknown adults. Restrictions on stranger contact, live-streaming and disappearing messages sound really promising in terms of safeguarding children – these measures are more precisely targeted than a broad ban. Of course, we do not want to remove legitimate social, creative or community benefits for young people. Not yet. We need much more detail before we can fully assess the policy. The crucial questions are which services are in scope, how age will be checked, what data will be collected, how privacy will be protected, what exceptions will apply, how children with additional vulnerabilities will be supported, and how success will be measured.

“My main concern is that a total ban could create a false sense of safety. Some children may evade restrictions, use VPNs, borrow adult accounts, or move to smaller and less regulated spaces. There is also a risk of cutting young people off from real benefits they find online – some rely on digital spaces to feel connected to friends, explore hobbies, be creative and develop skills. Some minority children and those with disabilities can find spaces of peer and community support online. The question should not only be “how do we keep children off platforms?”, but “how do we make digital environments genuinely safer and more developmentally appropriate?”

“Researchers have an important role in helping policymakers understand what works. This should include independent evaluation of whether harms are reduced, whether children and families experience the policy as workable, whether particular groups are disproportionately affected, and whether platforms respond with genuine safety-by-design changes. It is also vital to include children and parents in the evidence base, because they can tell us how these policies are actually experienced on the ground.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

Dr Nomisha Kurian researches how digital technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, affect children’s safety, wellbeing and long-term development.

She holds a PhD in Education from the University of Cambridge and has advised organisations including UNICEF, the UK Government Open Innovation Team, and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children on child safety and AI. Her work has been recognised with the University of Cambridge Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Social Impact and the Cambridge Applied Research Award.

15 June 2026