The United Kingdom is considering new restrictions that could bar children under 16 from using mainstream social media platforms.
The discussion builds on the Online Safety Act, which already requires services with minimum age limits to explain how they enforce them and to use “highly effective” age assurance measures where children are at risk of harmful content.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he is monitoring how Australia’s under‑16 ban works in practice and is “open” to an Australian‑style approach, despite previously expressing personal reservations about a blanket ban for teenagers.
Conservative Party Member of Parliament David Davis said in a post on X that banning social media for children was “the right move,” and added that “mobile phones don’t belong in schools either.”
Related: Age verification has made a colossal misstep, and blockchain needs to get involved
X and Online Safety Act enforcement
The debate comes as UK ministers and regulators are already in conflict with Elon Musk’s X platform over compliance with the Online Safety Act (OSA) and takedown obligations for illegal or harmful content.
Ofcom, the UK’s online safety regulator, is preparing enforcement powers that include large fines and potential access restrictions for services that fail to meet their child safety and illegal content duties.
Critics have warned that aggressive enforcement could have implications for freedom of expression, and Musk’s platform has said the OSA is at risk of “seriously infringing” free speech.
Aleksandr Litreev, CEO of Sentinel, whose decentralized virtual private network (dVPN) provides censorship-resistant internet access, told Cointelegraph that the UK’s moves on digital freedoms were “concerning,” and echoed the “same failed route as China, Russia and Iran.”
He said that denying youth access to social media and the internet “stifles their ability to learn digital literacy and develop critical thinking,” leaving them “less prepared for adulthood in a connected world.”
Related: Crypto YouTube views sink to lowest level since early 2021, ‘it’s not just X’
Australia and Ireland tighten online ID
Similar moves are underway in other countries. Australia’s eSafety Commissioner registered an industry code requiring major search engines to implement age assurance technologies for logged‑in users, with the rules taking effect on Dec. 27, 2025.
Providers such as Google and Microsoft now have to verify users’ ages using methods ranging from government IDs and biometrics to credit card checks, and apply the highest default safety filters to accounts identified as likely under 18.
Ireland, meanwhile, plans to use its upcoming presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2026 to push for identity-verified social media accounts across the bloc.
In the UK, these developments coincided this week with a government decision to abandon plans for a single centralized digital ID system for right‑to‑work checks, which would have become mandatory in 2029.
Related: UK rolls back digital ID for work checks as privacy fears drive backlash
Implications for crypto KYC
Crypto exchanges and trading apps remain subject to existing Know Your Customer (KYC) and biometric verification rules, including checks that typically involve government ID uploads and live selfies or facial scans to verify users’ identities.
Policymakers’ focus on age and identity assurance in social media, search, and other consumer services suggests that similar verification technologies are increasingly being explored and deployed outside financial use cases.
Litreev commented, “If a government sells you something ‘for the sake of safety,’ it’s sure as hell not about safety in any way or form.”
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