UK police bosses urge unsafe platforms to be blocked for under-16s

UK police chiefs have called for social media, AI, and gaming apps with high-risk features to be blocked for users under 16, citing a surge in online child abuse reports ^[1][2].

The National Crime Agency (NCA) and National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said platforms that fail to disable features enabling 'harm at-scale' should be banned for children ^[1][2]. They identified six such features, including private messaging, mass discoverability of children, and weak age checks that allow access to adult environments ^[1][2]. In 2025 alone, the NCA received 92,000 reports of potential child sexual abuse activity online ^[1][2]. The agencies urge tech firms to prioritize child safety as a core design principle ^[1]. The UK government is currently consulting on regulatory options, which range from age limits and app curfews to outright bans for under-16s ^[2]. Furthermore, the NCA and NPCC have called on regulator Ofcom to enforce platform minimum age policies and mandate device-level controls to prevent the sharing of nude images by minors ^[2]. NCA director general Graeme Biggar stated the current online environment is not safe for children, adding that the industry response has been too slow ^[1][2].