Labour's social media curfew plans for young people in tatters as nearly eight in ten teenagers admit they would simply opt out of them

Published: 00:01, 7 August 2026 | Updated: 00:04, 7 August 2026 Labour's social media curfew plans were in tatters last night as nearly eight in ten teenagers admitted they would opt out of them. Ministers announced last month that 16 and 17-year-olds would face overnight curfews - from midnight to 6am - by default across social media apps. Their access to 'addictive' features designed to keep teenagers hooked online will also have to be deactivated by tech firms, including autoplay videos, recommended feeds driven by algorithms and infinite scrolling. But Sir Keir Starmer, then Prime Minister, came under fire for 'rushing' the plans to hunt for a 'legacy' ahead of his departure after it emerged that young people will be able to change their own settings if they choose. It means they'll be able to permanently opt out of both the curfews and the block on addictive features. And last night, a survey found 79 per cent of 17-year-olds and 72 per cent of 16-year-olds admitted they would do just this. The poll by Censuswide found nearly a third (32 per cent) of 17-year-olds would opt out to watch more online content at night while four in ten (43 per cent) said they would to message or call family or friends. Of respondents aged 16, nearly a third (32 per cent) and more than three in ten (35 per cent) said they would opt out for the same reasons respectively.  A survey found 79 per cent of 17-year-olds and 72 per cent of 16-year-olds admitted they would opt out of night-time social media curfews  The same survey found less than one in ten 16 and 17-year-olds stop using social media before 9pm 'on a typical school night'. Four in ten said they carry on scrolling up until 11pm, more than a quarter up until 1am and more than one in ten after 1am. MPs and campaigners said it showed the reforms don't go far enough to protect young people from online harms and called on Andy Burnham to rip them up and start again. Andy Burrows is chief executive of the Molly Rose Foundation, set up by the father of Molly Russell, the teenager who took her own life after being bombarded by suicide content online. He said: 'Keir Starmer's hurried announcement of a social media curfew was piecemeal and poorly thought out, not a comprehensive plan to keep teenagers safe. 'Teenagers deserve better than policy made on hoof and that sounds tough in Government press releases but quickly falls apart. 'Andy Burnham must restore the confidence of parents and experts with a credible plan to keep children safe online and that enables teens to benefit from technology, not continue to be harmed by it.' Tory MP Neil O'Brien, Shadow Minister for Policy Development, said: 'Any parent could have told Labour how this ends. 'Give a teenager a switch marked 'off', and it will be flicked before the announcement has finished loading. 'Labour still don't understand that voluntary rules are the ones nobody follows. They still cannot bring themselves to make serious changes. 'We would restrict social media to those aged over 16 and put the legal duty on the companies rather than on the children. 'Andy Burnham can follow our lead, or he can carry on asking teenagers nicely.' Liberal Democrat MP Martin Wrigley, who sits on the Commons technology committee, said: 'The real answer is to make the social media companies responsible for the content they publish and promote, rather than allowing them to avoid responsibility as platforms. 'I would like to see them counted as publishers and therefore held responsible for what they promote.' In June, Sir Keir announced a social media ban for children under 16 across all the main platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube. Outlining the curfew plan for older teenagers a month later, then Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said it would prevent them facing a 'cliff edge', whereby they are hit by the full force of social media after being banned from access to the apps up to 16. But campaigners warned at the time that the curfews and blocks on addictive features would 'not be worth the paper they are written on' if teenagers can permanently switch them off. They are particularly worried that young people could be bombarded with material such as suicide content late into the night. The findings are also likely to raise fresh questions about Mr Burnham's move to scrap the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) after gaining the keys to No 10 last month, as it has been dedicated to ensuring online safety and regulating AI. Leanne Proctor, of campaign group the Online Responsibility Network, which commissioned the poll, said the research suggested a curfew is 'unlikely to be enough on its own to prevent online harms'. A Government spokesman said: 'Young people will have a choice in how they navigate social media as they grow into adulthood. 'In our national poll, 64% of young people aged 16 to 21 supported restricting children from certain apps at night and our trials found overnight curfews quickly became part of daily routines and helped improve sleep and concentration. 'We are providing strong protections by default while giving 16 and 17-year-olds the ability to decide whether those protections fit their circumstances, recognising they are capable of making informed decisions.' Censuswide surveyed nearly 300 16 and 17-year-olds between July 21 and 27.