U.K. government proposes midnight curfew and limits on infinite scrolling for older teens on social media

The U.K. government has proposed new measures intended to protect older teenagers on social media, including a midnight curfew and limits on the practice commonly known as infinite scrolling, according to a report by CNBC published July 15, 2026.

The proposal would target the late-night period when some teens may be exposed to content and engagement features that can keep users watching for longer than they intend. The government’s stated focus, as described in the report, is reducing harm linked to social media use among older teenagers.

A second element of the plan would restrict infinite scrolling, a design feature that continuously loads new posts or videos without a natural stopping point. The policy idea is to reduce prolonged use, rather than relying on individual users to exit voluntarily after a certain amount of time.

While the measures are framed as safeguards for teens, the proposals also raise questions about how enforcement would work and what platforms would need to change in their user experience and settings. The report does not detail the enforcement mechanism, but it ties the proposals to broader efforts to regulate online services for young users.

The government’s approach described in the report emphasizes protections built into platform design and account settings, rather than solely relying on parental supervision or voluntary platform commitments. For families, the potential effect would be less flexibility in how teens access feeds at night and potentially fewer opportunities to keep scrolling indefinitely.

The timeline and the legal pathway for the proposed rules were not specified in the available report summary. The next steps would depend on how the government advances the proposal, including whether it moves into consultation, formal rulemaking, or policy development with relevant regulators and platform operators.

If adopted in final form, the measures could require platforms to implement time-based controls for teen accounts and adjust feed delivery mechanics to limit continuous content loading, affecting both user experience and compliance costs. Any final policy would likely need to balance child safety goals with operational feasibility and rights considerations for young users and their families.