UK Police Chiefs Demand Blocking of Unsafe Social, AI, Gaming Apps for Under-16s
UK police chiefs are advocating for a ban on under-16s accessing social, AI, and gaming applications that fail to disable specific 'high-risk' features. The National Crime Agency (NCA) and National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) have jointly urged that sites permitting contact from unknown individuals, recommending harmful content, or allowing the sharing of nude photographs should be inaccessible to children.
This intervention comes as a response to the government's consultation on potentially banning social media for under-16s. A government spokesperson affirmed a commitment to protecting children online, supporting regulator Ofcom to take action against non-compliant tech firms, and exploring options from age limits and curfews to outright bans.
Graeme Biggar, Director General of the NCA, stated unequivocally, "our assessment is clear: the online environment in its current form is not safe for children." He criticised the industry's slow response and the worsening problem, declaring, "Enough is enough." Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, NPCC Chair, described the online sphere as "something of a wild west" where regulation has failed to keep pace with technology.
The NCA and NPCC have identified six platform features they believe enable "harm at-scale" and should be absent from child-accessible apps. While the Online Safety Act already targets many of these, police argue for specific legislation to prevent under-16s from accessing any platform offering these 'high-risk' features. They also seek to empower Ofcom to enforce minimum age policies and mandate device-level nudity controls for under-18s.
Biggar highlighted a disturbing trend, with 92,000 reports of potential child sexual abuse activity online from tech companies in 2025, noting an increase in both volume and severity, involving increasingly younger children as both victims and perpetrators. He attributed this to tech firms' failure to make child safety a "core design principle," which, according to Stephens, is "boosting criminals' speed and reach."
