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, such as infinite scrolling. Last week, MEPs approved an opinion addressing how social media and the online environment affect young people. It proposes measures to strengthen the protection of minors online, clarify platform responsibilities and improve enforcement across the EU. It also supports setting a common European age limit for social media, whereby young people would need to be at least 16 to use tech platforms, unless authorised by parents, while access would not be allowed for children under 13.

The opinion promotes effective and privacy-friendly age verification across the EU and calls for stronger and more consistent enforcement of existing laws protecting children online.

MEPs have also called on the European Commission to introduce stronger rules to better protect children online through the Digital Fairness Act. They suggest that common online practices, such as targeted advertising, influencer promotions, addictive design features, loot boxes, virtual currencies in video games and misleading website designs, should be covered by the new Act. The aim is to close gaps in existing laws, while avoiding unnecessary regulatory complexity for businesses. The opinion also covers AI tools and highlights risks such as misinformation, manipulation and emotional dependency, and calls for strict safeguards.

We expect the draft Digital Fairness Act in the final quarter of this year.