On Monday 15 June 2026, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a social media ban for under-16s, expected to come into force in Spring 2027. The government is also considering an overnight curfew and measures to stop infinite scrolling for under-18s.
What was announced
TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and X are included in the ban
The government has said it will closely follow Australia's model, where Kick, Reddit, Threads and Twitch are also banned for under-16s, although these are yet to be announced in the UK
Restrictions also extend to certain social features, such as livestreaming and strangers being able to contact children, within gaming environments on platforms such as Roblox, which had over 80 million daily users this time last year
Not included in the ban:
WhatsApp and Signal
Pinterest
YouTube Kids (the child-safe version of the platform) is also excluded
Additional protections for 16–17 year-olds (not banned, but affected):
Algorithmic recommendation restrictions
Limits on features such as infinite scrolling
Restrictions on access to certain AI chatbot experiences, including AI romantic companions
Potential impact by sector
Sector
Impact
🔴 Beauty
Beauty has the potential to be the most disrupted category, given Gen Alpha skincare culture is fundamentally TikTok- and YouTube-driven. Trends are largely driven by tween creators and product recommendations.
🔴 Toys &
Gaming
Toys and gaming also have potential to be heavily impacted, with brands relying on creators and YouTube personalities, and through a less obvious route: licensed character and IP marketing. A lot of brands rely on the ability to promote licensed product to the target audience on social. If you can't reach under-16s on the platforms where they discover product, the commercial model for licensed toys and characters could take a hit. The full impact on gaming environments such as Roblox remains unclear, but given its scale (80m+ daily users) it's one to monitor closely.
🔴 TV & Film
Studios, streamers and IP owners depend heavily on TikTok and YouTube to drive awareness for youth-skewed content — trailers, clips, creator reactions and organic conversation all sit on platforms that will be out of reach for their core audience.
🟠 Retail &
Fashion
Youth trend cycles, which spread quickly via TikTok aesthetics and creator micro-trends, may slow down. Impact depends on the audience base, as 18+ still contribute significantly to these cycles.
🟠 Food &
Drinks
The food and drinks brands most likely to be impacted are those who specifically target youth culture e.g. energy drinks such as Prime, which built its brand almost entirely through creator-led social content and youth-skewed audiences.
🟠 Health, Fitness & Gyms
Gym content, workout routines and fitness challenges are among the highest-performing formats on TikTok and YouTube for younger audiences, but most gyms require members to be 16 or over, meaning the core addressable customer sits outside the ban entirely. There's also an opportunity to lean into offline activity as an alternative.
Anticipated impact on paid advertising
The most immediate impact is the removal of the 13–15 age bracket from targetable social media audiences entirely.
16–17 year-olds remain reachable, though, as is already the case, platforms prohibit behavioural and interest-based targeting for any under-18 user. The ban doesn't change that existing restriction, but it does shrink the pool
CPM benchmarks will shift significantly. Our own portfolio data from TikTok in the beauty space shows teen audiences delivering CPMs 102% cheaper than the Gen Z 18–24 bracket. Losing access to that inventory means reduced reach for the same budget - benchmarks across all platforms will need to be revised, and KPIs reforecast with clients.
Creator marketing and partnerships are likely to become a core lever for impacted brands working with creators whose existing audience already indexes with Gen Z/Alpha. This allows brands to maintain reach into these segments without relying on direct targeting, and is likely to become a standard part of any youth-skewed brief.
Brands should treat Spring 2027 as a hard deadline to reforecast youth-skewed media plans.
What we’ve learned from bans in other countries so far
Australia became the first country in the world to ban social media for children under 16, with its law taking effect in December 2025. It is the closest real-world model for what the UK can expect, and the UK government has been explicit that its approach will go further, with policy sources describing it as "Australia Plus".
The effectiveness of the ban in the UK will remain unknown for a while, and we don’t have an answer to where these younger audiences will actually go if they migrate elsewhere. What we do know is that platforms will continue to serve content to active users based on viewing behaviour, even if paid targeting is unavailable.
There’s also a question over whether advertising compliance rules will tighten - will the ASA and CAP Code definitions of 'advertising directed at under-16s' be updated in parallel? Stricter rules here could affect influencer briefs, paid formats and sponsorship arrangements beyond the platforms explicitly named in the legislation.
Final thoughts
Get in touch with your account team to talk through your specific audience exposure. The impact will vary significantly depending on your sector and current channel mix.
