The much-anticipated social media ban for under 16s has been announced by the UK Government, set to come into force in early 2027. This comes just months after similar legislation in Australia to curb online harm for children sparked intense debate worldwide.
Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, X and Facebook will all be blocked, with the government using the same framework as in Australia. It will ban under-16s’ access for ‘user-to-user platforms’ that enable social interaction between users, allow them to post material, and use algorithms to recommend content that keeps users engaged.
As with any significant regulation, the social media ban is likely to have impacts across the advertising industry. In recent years, adspend has flowed to social platforms at a similar pace to the rest of the world, with Meta alone taking the largest chunk of incremental ad revenue over the last two years.
While this would suggest the ban will have a seismic effect on the industry, analysts note that the vast majority’ of advertisers do not currently target under-16s in their campaigns. So, if adspend isn’t the concern, what does this ban tell us about social media use and the way brands interact on them?
As of early 2025, around 5.3 billion users, or 65% of the global population are on social platforms. But there are signs that this rapid homogenisation is slowing: annual growth of users is on the decline. It has decelerated to just 4-5% a year, a steep drop from the double-digit surges seen earlier in the 2010s.
Even prior to the implementation of the ban, many youngsters self-report attempts to use social platforms less. Mindful social consumption is on the rise, with screen time monitored, and niche devices like the Brick growing in popularity.
While many brands might panic in the face of this and ask ‘what happens when no one sees our social ads anymore’, there is no need to catastrophise. Social still presents a highly captive audience across platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn, where targeting techniques are growing more sophisticated with each passing year.
Sajeeda Merali, chief executive of the Professional Publishers Association, has said the ‘current climate’ around the use of social media presents an opportunity for ‘expertly curated content’.
This is an opportunity to engage in more creative, different ways with creators, to push beyond only performance and look for the spaces where micro-influencers and communities sit, to really reach your target audience. If people are looking to spend more time offline, it may mean they become a far more captive audience when they are online, remembering far more from a single hour of screentime than they would from six.
Social may be changing, but the ban and these shifts in behaviours need not be a death knell; instead they are an opportunity to adapt.
