UK Government Launches Much Anticipated Consultation On Children’s Online Wellbeing – Privacy Protection
Publish Date: 2026-03-09 11:12:00
Source Domain: www.mondaq.com
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The UK government has launched its much-trailed consultation on UK children’s digital
wellbeing, covering social media age bans, curfews, AI chatbots and
gaming.
This consultation will look at three main areas. First, it will
examine whether new measures, including age-based restrictions,
could help keep children safer online. Second, it will consider the
role of enforcement, both in applying any new rules and in
strengthening the ones that already exist. And third, it will look
at the wider ecosystem: how children and parents can best be
supported to get information about staying safe online and develop
skills that set them up for the future.
The key topics are:
- whether there should be a minimum age for social media, and if
so, what age would be right; - whether platforms should be required to switch off features
like infinite scrolling and autoplay; - whether mandatory overnight curfews would help children sleep
better and what age they should apply to; - whether children should be able to use AI chatbots without
restrictions; - how age verification enforcement should be strengthened;
and - how to help children and parents navigate the digital world and
thrive online.
The consultation ends on 26 May 2026. The government says that
it will respond in the summer and act swiftly on the feedback to
the consultation.
The EU picture
Some of these issues are also being considered by the EU in the
context of its proposed Digital Fairness Act,…
