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Three quarters of children would support film-style age ratings on social media

In research we commissioned, the majority of children and adults supported age ratings for social apps. With the UK government's consultation on children and tech closing next week, we're calling again for tech companies to be held to account.

    • Our new research shows three-quarters of children aged 11 to 15 would support age ratings on social media apps, similar to those used for movies and video games.1
    • Adults overwhelmingly agree – with 92% supporting an age-based classification system for social media.2
    • As the end of the social media consultation approaches, we're demanding that the UK government forces tech companies to deliver three key actions, including risk-based age ratings, to keep children safe online.

Two new polls that we commissioned have revealed three quarters of children (74%) aged 11- 15, and 92% of adults, would support movie and game-style age ratings for social media apps, based on what you can do and see on them.

With the UK government’s ‘Growing up in the Online World’ consultation closing on Tuesday 26 May, we are demanding that the government force tech companies to put children’s safety before profit by taking three key actions that would finally keep young users safe online.

The three actions we're demanding

  • Make sure children and young people get genuinely age-appropriate experiences online by introducing age-ratings based on what a user can see and do on a site.
  • Stop platforms using addictive design tricks like endless scrolling and persistent notifications that keep young people online for hours on end.
  • Use the full force of the law to block illegal and harmful content across online services, including on devices and AI.

If the government fails to deliver on this, then the NSPCC’s position is that we accept a social media ban for under 16s would be better than the status quo.

Chris Sherwood, NSPCC CEO said: “Tech companies have completely failed our children, continually choosing to prioritise profit over safety, with families paying the price.

“Decisive action is now needed by Government to force Silicon Valley to address the serious risks and dangers that continue to exist on their services and ensure we get the protections young people and parents need and deserve.

“Children and adults are telling us they want solutions that go beyond a social media ban. This should include risk-based age ratings for online platforms to ensure young users are getting genuinely safe and age-appropriate experiences.”

The new surveys, by YouGov and Savanta, also highlight that children and adults share many of the same worries about social media safety for young people, with 61% of children citing ‘strangers being able to contact them’ as the main issue when asked about problems with social media. This concern was shared by 93% of the adults.

Other concerns were:

  • children sharing their location – 84% of adults polled
  • disappearing images and messages – 82% of adults
  • spending too much time on social media – 50% of young people
  • seeing upsetting content – 42% of young people.

These concerns point to specific platform features and risks – and show why the UK government must now introduce a risk‑based age-rating system and turn-off dangerous functionalities to keep children safe.

Sign up as a campaigner and help keep children safe

We’re calling for the public to join us in demanding the government to do more to hold tech companies to account.

Our campaign, Shift Ctrl, highlights the ways in which online harm disrupts the everyday lives of young people. It's appearing in a variety of media, from on-demand TV and cinema to social media platforms and billboards.

At the same time, we’re asking people to sign up as an NSPCC campaigner to stay updated about our work in this area.

Read more and sign up

We also have information and advice to help you respond to the government's consultation before the deadline of 11.59pm on Tuesday 26 May.

Worried about a child?

You can contact the NSPCC Helpline by calling 0808 800 5000 or emailing help@NSPCC.org.uk

Find out more

Contact our Press Office

Contact our national and regional press offices for enquiries about our work or to request interviews.

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References

  1. 1. YouGov surveyed 1016 UK children aged between 11 and 15, between 17 April and 6 May 2026. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK children in this age range.

     

  2. 2. Savanta interviewed 2,497 UK adults aged 16+ online between 3 April and 27 April 2026. This included a nationally representative sample of 2,000 UK adults, and a ‘boost’ to take the number of 16-17-year-olds in the sample to 500 to allow for robust analysis of this subgroup. Data was weighted to be representative of the UK population by age, sex, region and social grade. The 16-17-year-old boost was weighted down to ensure the data tables are nationally representative.