Cybersecurity

UK plans default overnight social media restrictions for teenagers

The UK government plans to introduce default overnight social media restrictions for 16- and 17-year-olds, alongside measures to limit features designed to encourage prolonged platform use.

Social media platforms will be expected to activate overnight restrictions from midnight to 6 a.m. by default for users in this age group. Teenagers will be able to change the settings, but the protections will be enabled automatically.

Autoplay and continuously personalised content feeds will also be disabled by default. The government said these features can encourage prolonged use and reinforce potentially addictive patterns of engagement.

The measures are intended to avoid a sudden reduction in online protections when children turn 16. They complement the government’s previously announced plans to prohibit social media services from being offered to children under 16 from spring 2027.

The proposals follow a government pilot involving more than 300 teenagers and parents across the UK. Participating families said the overnight restrictions became part of their routines and helped improve sleep and concentration.

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said older teenagers should retain greater independence while continuing to receive protection from features that could negatively affect their wellbeing.

The government also plans additional protections for children using AI chatbots. Proposed measures include encouraging regular breaks for users under 18 and taking action against services that provide dangerous, misleading or unverified mental health advice.

Ministers will work with regulators and other government departments to consider further restrictions, including possible bans on chatbots considered to pose a serious risk to children. Guidance for children, parents and guardians will also be added to the Kids Online Safety Hub.

Schools will strengthen media literacy through Relationships, Sex and Health Education classes covering AI, chatbots, misinformation and harmful online content. From September 2028, media literacy will also be embedded across the National Curriculum, including lessons on AI, data science, source analysis and technological bias.

The first regulations supporting the under-16 social media restrictions are expected to be presented to Parliament by the end of 2026, with implementation and enforcement planned for spring 2027.

Why does it matter?

The proposals reflect a growing shift from focusing solely on access to social media towards regulating how digital services are designed and used. By targeting autoplay, personalised feeds and AI chatbots alongside age-based protections, the government is seeking to address features that may contribute to excessive use and online harms.

If adopted, the measures could further shape debates on youth online safety beyond the UK, reinforcing the trend towards safety-by-design, stronger protections for minors and greater platform responsibility for children’s digital wellbeing.

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Australia’s eSafety report highlights gaps in child safety measures

Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has published its third transparency report assessing how major technology companies are tackling child sexual exploitation and abuse under the country’s Basic Online Safety Expectations.

The report concludes that significant gaps remain across major platforms, particularly in responding to the growing threat of sexual extortion targeting children and young adults.

The report examines the practices of Apple, Discord, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Snap and WhatsApp, highlighting shortcomings in proactive detection technologies, reporting tools and safety measures. According to eSafety, many platforms in Australia are not fully using available technologies, including language analysis tools capable of identifying coercive scripts used by offenders.

The report also identifies weaknesses in reporting mechanisms across several messaging services and notes that private messaging and video environments remain particularly challenging for detecting sexual extortion and livestreamed child sexual abuse.

Between July and December 2025, eSafety received more than 2,000 complaints relating to sexual extortion, with men aged 18 to 24 accounting for the largest group of victims. Separate research with the Australian Institute of Criminology found that more than one in ten adolescents aged 16 to 18 had experienced sexual extortion, while more than half of victims were first targeted before the age of 16.

The report also notes that Microsoft is currently the only provider using dedicated tools to detect and disrupt livestreamed child sexual abuse during video calls.

While eSafety acknowledged incremental improvements—including Google’s and Snap’s enhanced detection of known child sexual abuse material, Meta’s expanded grooming detection and Discord’s blocking of known child sexual abuse URLs—it argued that much stronger action is still needed.

The Commissioner called for wider deployment of proactive detection technologies, faster responses to victim reports and greater investment in tools capable of preventing abuse before it occurs.

Why does it matter?

The report highlights growing regulatory expectations that online platforms should actively prevent child sexual exploitation rather than rely primarily on user reports. As threats such as sexual extortion become more sophisticated, regulators are increasingly scrutinising whether companies are deploying available technologies to detect and disrupt abuse.

The findings also reinforce a broader shift towards safety-by-design in online regulation. By identifying gaps in detection, reporting and intervention, the report could increase pressure on technology companies to strengthen protections across messaging, social media and video services.

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8th meeting – Plenary Session

Discussions on the five pillars of the framework for responsible
State behaviour in the use of information and communications
technologies in accordance with annex C of A/79/214 and annex I
of A/80/257 (continued)
Capacity-building

7th meeting – Plenary Session

Discussions on the five pillars of the framework for responsible
State behaviour in the use of information and communications
technologies in accordance with annex C of A/79/214 and annex I
of A/80/257 (continued)
Confidence-building measures

5th meeting Plenary Session

Discussions on the five pillars of the framework for responsible
State behaviour in the use of information and communications
technologies in accordance with annex C of A/79/214 and annex I
of A/80/257 (continued)
International law

4th meeting – Plenary Session

Discussions on the five pillars of the framework for responsible
State behaviour in the use of information and communications
technologies in accordance with annex C of A/79/214 and annex I
of A/80/257 (continued)
Norms, rules and principles

3rd meeting – Plenary Session

Discussions on the five pillars of the framework for responsible
State behaviour in the use of information and communications
technologies in accordance with annex C of A/79/214 and annex I
of A/80/257
Existing and potential threats

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