Gaming joins social media in UK age ban plans
Technology minister Kanishka Narayan confirmed on Wednesday (29 April) that the UK consultation on children’s online safety covers banning both social media and gaming for children below a certain age.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) consultation document opened on 2 March and runs until 26 May 2026, with Secretary of State Liz Kendall committed to act on findings within months under legal powers Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on 16 February.
Narayan, MP for Vale of Glamorgan, gave the answer in response to a written question from Labour MP Ian Lavery on the impact of social media on young people’s mental health.
Public debate has so far focused almost entirely on a possible social media age ban for under-16s, driven by ping-pong between the Commons and Lords over a Conservative amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
Gaming has sat inside the consultation scope since launch but rarely surfaced in ministerial statements.
Narayan’s written answer appears to put gaming on the same regulatory footing as social media for a potential age ban, expanding the policy conversation beyond the platforms that have dominated headlines.
What the consultation proposes for gaming
The DSIT treats gaming as part of the same regulatory question as social media rather than a separate track, writing that “many of the things children, parents and carers are concerned about also appear on other services including, but not limited to, gaming, chatbots and messaging services”.
The consultation signals that restrictions could apply to “sites and apps that children might not view as being traditional ‘social media’, for example where they might play, create or share games”, with in-scope services determined by functionality and risk profile rather than category.
The starting position is a sub-set of “user-to-user” services with conditions that determine inclusion, alongside exemptions for low-risk and educational services.
Notably, the DSIT lists several high-risk features under consultation that are common to gaming platforms.
These include stranger-pairing, where Ofcom evidence “particularly highlights risks on gaming platforms, where pairing with unknown users is often normalised as part of gameplay”, along with live streaming, location sharing and disappearing messages.
The consultation also asks whether services with personalised algorithms, autoplay, push notifications and in-service purchases such as “shops or loot-boxes” should face age restrictions for 13 to 15-year-olds.
Following in Australia’s footsteps
Australia’s age-restricted social media regime, in force since 10 December 2025, defines in-scope services by four conditions and explicitly excludes “platforms that have the sole or primary purpose of enabling messaging or online gaming”.
The Australian regulator can fine non-compliant platforms up to AUD$49.5 million, and a UK company conducted the year-long Age Assurance Technology Trial that informed the rollout.
The Australian carve-out for gaming established the international precedent that ministers in other jurisdictions have largely followed.
The UK consultation asks whether to align with the Australian definition, add functionality-based conditions, or “capture services such as some gaming sites and messaging services that might have very similar functionality and risk profiles as those sites traditionally thought of as ‘social media'”.
DSIT flags concern that a narrow scope could displace children to less-regulated spaces, citing the NSPCC, the Molly Rose Foundation and the Internet Watch Foundation.
The consultation explicitly excludes “low-use or low-risk” services and “closed online games that already embed strong safety-by-design protections” from any new restrictions.
What this means for UK gaming platforms
UK gaming services with social features face the most direct exposure if DSIT adopts functionality-based restrictions.
Affected mechanics include in-game chat, matchmaking with strangers, live streaming, user-generated content sharing and loot boxes, all of which the consultation flags as high-risk.
Single-player titles and tightly moderated children’s products such as LEGO® Play, which the consultation cites as an example of safety-by-design, would likely fall outside scope.
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill provides a parallel statutory route.
Commons amendments passed on 15 April would let the Secretary of State make regulations preventing “relevant children” accessing “specified features or functionalities” of internet services, language broad enough to capture gaming platforms regardless of how the consultation lands.
The bill returned to the House of Lords on 27 April, with the government previously defeated by Lord Nash on 20 April.
