Most teenagers intend to opt out of the Government’s planned social media curfews, according to polling. The research by Censuswide, conducted on behalf of the Online Responsibility Network, found 84.6% of 16 to 18-year-olds said they would opt out of the proposed curfews.
The curfew, unveiled by Sir Keir Starmer in his final weeks as Prime Minister, would prevent teenagers aged 16 and 17 from accessing social media sites between midnight and 6am by default, but could be turned off.
Reasons for opting out
The poll found 45.2% of teenagers said they would turn the curfew off to allow them to speak to friends or family, while another 37.2% would turn it off to watch online content.
Leanne Proctor, regulatory lead at the Online Responsibility Network, said the research suggests a curfew is “unlikely to be enough on its own to prevent online harms”.
She said: “There is no single solution to protecting children online. Rather than relying on broad service-level restrictions, greater focus should be placed on design feature-level protections and robust age assurance, helping to ensure young people have age-appropriate experiences without unnecessarily restricting access.”
Government defends policy
Announcing the policy last month, ministers also proposed turning off addictive features such as auto-scrolling and algorithmic feeds for young people. Then-education secretary Bridget Phillipson suggested the voluntary element to curfews could be changed if it was found many teenagers were switching off the default settings.
A Government spokesperson said: “Young people will have a choice in how they navigate social media as they grow into adulthood. In our national poll, 64% of young people aged 16 to 21 supported restricting children from certain apps at night and our trials found overnight curfews quickly became part of daily routines and helped improve sleep and concentration.”
Criticism from opposition
Munira Wilson, the Liberal Democrats’ education spokeswoman, criticised the Government’s approach, calling for policymakers to “tackle the causes of social media addiction, not just the symptoms”.
She said: “You wouldn’t give an alcoholic a bottle of wine with a screw cap and call it a preventative measure, so why is this Government doing the digital equivalent for young people online?”
Ms Wilson added: “The Liberal Democrats are calling for film-style age ratings, allowing young people to enjoy the best of the online world while giving social media companies a clear incentive to remove addictive design features and harmful content from their platforms. Our message is simple – if your platform is designed to drive addiction, you don’t get access to our children.”
