A proposed social media ban for children in the UK could affect gaming platforms like Fortnite and Roblox, suggests online safety minister Kanishka Narayan.
Concerns around online safety on gaming platforms have escalated over recent years, with the likes of Roblox and Discord implementing age verification checks in compliance with UK law, to prevent children from speaking with adult strangers online.
Online games like Fortnite and Minecraft already have parental controls to limit who players can interact with, but there’s pressure for companies to take more decisive action – as platforms like Roblox face lawsuits in the US over child safety concerns.
Now, the UK government is considering stopping children from speaking with strangers online on gaming platforms entirely.
As reported by The Sunday Times, online safety minister Kanishka Narayan said he would consider imposing restrictions on popular gaming platforms as part of a proposed social media ban on teenagers.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently vowed to take ‘decisive’ action to curb social media’s impact on children. While he hasn’t outlined any specifics, some expect it could replicate the Australian social media ban for under-16s which was implemented last year, or restrict certain features like infinite scrolling, autoplay, and location sharing.
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Australia’s social media ban – which has had questionable success – doesn’t include gaming platforms. However, following a recent trip to the country, Narayan said one of the biggest concerns raised was ‘stranger pairing’ – which refers to how easily adults can contact children they don’t know on certain platforms.
According to Narayan, this was an issue he heard about ‘mostly in the context of gaming platforms’, although he doesn’t name any specific titles.
‘So that will weigh quite significantly in my mind as we think about how we stop some of the most egregious harms for young people,’ he added.
Rachel de Souza, the children’s commissioner, recently called for restrictions on games in the context of the social media ban proposal – which she believes won’t ‘solve the world’s problems’.
‘Boys often aren’t on social media,’ de Souza said on Sky News. ‘They’re often spending three or four hours a day gaming. And those games often have features that allow a 55-year-old in Arizona to come in and speak to a nine-year-old.’
She added: ‘I wouldn’t be calling it a ban of children – I’d be calling it a ban and restriction on services that are not suitable for under-18s.’
The government hasn’t come to any conclusion on the restrictions it will apply – and it’s still unclear if any will – but implementing a blanket ban on kids speaking with strangers online in games feels incredibly hard to monitor and maintain.
Gaming platforms were also discussed in regards to Australia’s social media ban, but they were ultimately omitted – a move which faced some criticism. However, the ban does include streaming platform Twitch.
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