Wire · founder news, decoded · regulatory
New social media curfews and crackdown on addictive features to better protect 16
UK government mandates default overnight curfews (midnight-6am) and automatic disabling of addictive features (autoplay, infinite scroll) for 16-17 year-olds on social media platforms, with regulations to be laid before Parliament by end of 2026 and enforced spring 2027. Separate measures include mandatory breaks for under-18s on AI chatbots and potential bans on mental health chatbots deemed dangerous.
This Wire brief sits within Fusion42's coverage of Consumer Apps and Social & Community. Wire is Fusion42's founder-focused intelligence feed: each story is connected to the funds and startups it names — every one with a live profile on Raise or Scout — so founders can follow the capital and the momentum behind the headline rather than just the headline itself. Wire analysis is one of the live surfaces Arthur, Fusion42's AI co-founder, reasons over.
The Wire takeaway
If you build social media or AI products for European markets, you now have eight months to ship mandatory curfews and feature kills for 16-17 year-olds as UK default settings—and this becomes the template for every other regulator watching. The move from opt-in to opt-out protection means your product roadmap just got a non-negotiable dependency on age verification and toggle architecture.
Read the full story at gov.uk →
Topics: Consumer Apps · Social & Community · age-gating · social-media-regulation · feature-restrictions · ai-chatbot-safety · default-settings