Social media ban: How will it affect separated parents who are co-parenting?

With the UK Government seeking to introduce a ban on social media platforms for under-16s, the impact on separated households and co-parenting could be significant.

In June 2026, the UK Government announced that following public consultation they had plans to pass regulations to implement a nationwide ban on social media for under-16s as early as spring 2027. The purpose in this legislation is to keep children away from social media and improve their safety online.

Although the concept is positive, it will likely lead to another topic of dispute for separated parents. At present, it is not unusual for concerns raised to be raised by a parent to their solicitors that the other parent does not enforce the same rules and boundaries as they do, making it difficult to co-parent successfully. These disputes are rarely solely confined to concerns regarding social media use. However, with the ban looking imminent, social media disputes may compound and exacerbate such disputes.

Take a look at Australia

To take Australia as an example, at the end of 2025 it was the first country to implement a social media ban on young people. Since then, there have been several studies to consider whether the legislation has been implemented effectively and the effect that this has had on children and their families.

Although some are of the view that it is too early to tell, statistics show that around 50% of children still have access to at least one of the banned social media platforms.

Significantly however, statistics also show that parents may not be completely aware of what their child is or isn’t accessing digitally. This is because post-ban there appears to be a trend in children being less transparent with their parents as to what they are accessing online. Therefore, raising questions as to what children are disclosing to their parents, how strictly parents are enforcing the ban at home and what, and to what extent, are parents monitoring.

The Kids Research Institute Australia has instructed NORC at the University of Chicago to prepare a study on the social media ban in Australia looking at the views of family’s pre-enactment and specially, the early effects of the ban on children, parenting practices and family dynamics.

The results of this study are not yet available. However, they will likely be informative and persuasive on the impact the ban will have on UK families once implemented.

Differing parenting styles

Although speculative at this stage, separated parents with differing personal views on the social media ban and different views upon monitoring their children will have differing approaches to how strictly they will implement the ban in their respective households.

Where parents aren’t on the same page about rules and boundaries in general, this makes co- parenting more difficult. An issue such as the enforcement of a social media ban could amplify the situation. This can cause many a dispute as sometimes one parent simply enforcing rules and boundaries for the welfare of the child or children, results in that parent being categorised negatively. This inevitably has an impact on the co-parenting relationship as well as the relationship between the stricter parent and child.

How will the ban be enforced and will that help parents?

From the studies which have taken place in Australia, although the ban is already in place, the government and tech companies are not necessarily succeeding in enforcing the ban, with 50% of children still having a live social media account.

What is the role of the family court in such a situation?

In Family Courts across the UK, in Scotland, England and Wales, the court will wish to avoid, where possible, prescriptive court orders which are difficult to enforce.

For example, where parents regularly speak negatively about the other parent in the presence of the child, some courts are reluctant to ordain parents not to speak inappropriately of the other as it is almost impossible to prove whether the order has been breached or not. The court can and will however give directions and suggest to both parents it is inappropriate to do so and not in their child or children’s welfare to do so.

Similarly, if the court was to be so prescriptive as to include an order which prevented the child from accessing social media platforms, the court would find it difficult to police and establish if one parent, rather than the other, allowed access and as such, was in breach of an order. It is therefore a responsibility of parents and solicitors as their legal advisors to address these issues early to avoid ongoing disputes or issues.

How to deal with these types of issue

Although on the face of it, a change to the laws in relation to social media use would not appear to be a family law issue, it will inevitably result in another aspect to co-parenting which families, and family lawyers, will have to consider. This is both in relation to how contact will operate in the future and in respect of agreeing and enforcing or respecting boundaries across separated households.

It is better to broach the subject of social media and screentime sooner rather than later in the hope that parties can take a collaborative or co-parenting view on this and avoid future dispute. Non-court methods of resolving a difference of opinion, such as family mediation or collaborative law, can be extremely useful in providing a forum to discuss matters openly.

It is important to be aware of these potential changes and consider now how this could impact separated parents, their co-parenting relationships, their time with their children and their children.