Passport checks coming for social media users in the UK: report
Key Points
- Ministers want passport, driving licence or credit checks to enforce the under-16 ban
- More than 70% of Australian under-16s still accessed platforms after its ban
- The ban targets addictive features and is likely to hit Instagram, TikTok and X
- Teenagers aged 16 and 17 face a midnight to 6am curfew by default
- AI chatbots must impose mandatory breaks on users under 18
Social media users in the UK could need a passport or driving licence to prove their age, The Times reports.
The newspaper said on Monday (5 October) that ministers want platforms to use hard ID checks, including official documents and credit checks, after Australia’s under-16 ban failed to keep most children off social media.
The Australian government admitted this year that more than 70% of under-16s still had some access to platforms three months after its law took effect in December 2025.
Ministers have also changed the model of the UK ban, which will now target platforms with addictive features such as infinite scrolling, autoplay and push notifications, along with services that allow unsolicited contact through chat.
The Times said the ban would likely apply to Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook and X, and that platforms can escape it by removing those features.
Australian children got around the country’s selfie-based AI age estimation by drawing beards on their faces, using VPNs and pointing their phone cameras at screens showing adult faces.
Ofcom has until October 2026 to produce a rapid assessment of what highly effective age assurance means for confirming a user is 16. The regulator currently applies an 18-year threshold to pornography and other primary priority content.
The government plans to lay the first regulations for the under-16 ban before Parliament by the end of 2026, and The Times reported that the law should come into force next spring.
Teenagers aged 16 and 17 will face a default overnight curfew between midnight and 6am, with push notifications muted during that window. The government will also limit autoplay and personalised feeds by default for that age group, and switch off livestreaming and stranger contact.
Gaming platforms such as Roblox and messaging apps such as WhatsApp sit outside the ban, though the government could still restrict them.
HotMinute reported in September that the government will also force AI chatbots to impose mandatory breaks on users under 18. The government did not say how long the breaks would last or how services would confirm a user’s age.
Chatbots built mainly to provide sexual relationships will close to anyone under 18, and general-purpose services such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude will need to verify that users are adults before enabling sexually explicit features.
The government’s Growing up in the online world consultation drew 116,000 responses, with 95% of responding parents backing functionality restrictions on AI chatbots.
Ofcom can fine non-compliant services up to £18 million or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue under the Online Safety Act.
