UK social media curfew: 85% of teens would opt out, poll says

A Censuswide poll for the Online Responsibility Network found that 85 percent of 16- to 18-year-olds said they would disable a planned UK overnight social media curfew for older teenagers.

The UK government plan would set social media accounts for children aged 16 and 17 to block access between midnight and 6:00 am by default. The setting would cover sites including Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook, but users could turn it off.

The curfew plan was unveiled in mid-July and would supplement a social media ban for under-16s announced in June. Just under half of the teenagers polled said they would turn off the curfew setting to speak to friends and family, while 37 percent said they would do so to watch online content.

The survey covered 1,000 teenagers. It found that 2 percent said they did not currently scroll on social media or watch short-form videos on school nights, while more than 18 percent said they consumed social media content until 1:00 am or later.

Leanne Proctor, regulatory lead at the Online Responsibility Network, said the research suggested a curfew was “unlikely to be enough on its own to prevent online harms.” Education minister Bridget Phillipson told broadcasters after the plan was unveiled that the voluntary element could be changed if too many teenagers switched off the default settings.

The UK government has said the plan is inspired by Australia's under-16 social media ban, which was introduced in December and does not include a curfew for 16- and 17-year-olds.