The government has announced that the UK ban on under-16s using social media platforms will start in March 2027. Tech companies will be required to implement tougher age checks as part the process. While the government seeks to protect children from harm, the move has science communicators who post educational videos on platforms like YouTube and TikTok worried, as they fear it will restrict young people’s access to science.
The government insists that under-16s will still be able to access the online world for learning and news, although live streaming and communicating with strangers will be switched off. ‘We’re not looking to bring dedicated educational platforms, which support schoolwork and learning, under these new rules,’ the government notes in a fact sheet on the ban. ‘At the same time, platforms have a clear opportunity to create spaces for children that prioritise safe, educational content without those risks.’ However, it’s not yet clear how exemptions will work.
In 2025, children aged four to 15 spent an average of 8 hours 45 minutes per week watching video‑sharing platforms, such as YouTube and TikTok, according to OfCom. Of those children aged three to 17 who watched videos on apps or sites, 42% watched them to help with schoolwork and homework. However, this varied between socioeconomic groups. Nearly half of children in households where the main earner works in a managerial or professional occupation watched educational content, compared with 35% of households where the main earner works in a skilled manual or unskilled profession.
I’ve been told that I’ve inspired young people to pursue chemistry
Ben MacAdam Gorham, @techience
‘Burning down the library of Alexandria’
Ben MacAdam Gorham, who shares videos of chemistry experiments on Tiktok (@techience), says it’s ‘crucial’ that the UK doesn’t ban YouTube – at least not long-form content. ‘This would be the equivalent of burning down the library of Alexandria. I cannot express this enough. Half of the things I’ve ever learned were from YouTube long-form content. [What’s more] I’ve been told that I’ve inspired young people to pursue chemistry as a college major and, if even one of the millions of people watching my videos becomes a scientist, then I think that’s a success.’
@techience This is called the chemical stoplight btw #stoplight #chemistry #indigocarmine ♬ original sound – Techience
However, Tamara Ewing, who shares chemistry videos on TikTok (@chemist.te), thinks the ban would be a net positive – provided it targets the addictive, algorithmically driven scrolling mechanism itself, not access to the content. ‘I’d push back on the premise that short-form social platforms are a good vehicle for science communication in the first place. A lot of creators, me included, moved into that space because it’s where the audience is, not because 15-second dopamine-optimised video is a good format for teaching mechanisms and nuance in science. It’s genuinely difficult to communicate good science in that format.’ Low-quality content is widespread on these platforms, she says, so removing under-16 access isn’t obviously a loss to their science education.
@chemis.te Answer to @bontoog No need to memorize the order if you have a periodic table near by—which you usually would! #chemistryhelp #electronconfiguration ♬ Jazz – Aylior
Kim Hilton, a chemist at Florida Southwestern State College who posts videos on YouTube as Chemical Kim (@chemicalkimscience), also thinks the ban won’t be a big problem for children or chemistry educators. ‘Children who are already interested in science do benefit from educators like me on these platforms,’ she notes. ‘But I don’t believe social media has revolutionised or meaningfully improved science education for children overall. Learning science is about doing science. Kids today are spending hours staring at screens, even when what’s on the screen is an educational video about a chemical reaction. That time would be better spent exploring, getting hands on with the world and following their own curiosity. If we want to genuinely expand science education for children, they need to put the screens down. They should be outside, curious and hands-on with the world.’
But do young people agree?
‘Young people are pretty unanimous: they don’t want a blanket ban,’ says Paddy Crump, campaigns director at Flippgen, a UK youth-led not-for-profit group that helps young people navigate the online world. ‘I’m particularly worried about the impact on access to science. A huge amount of young people’s exposure to science depends on social media – researchers, museums and educators mostly reach young audiences through these platforms rather than standalone websites. A ban risks cutting young people off from science at exactly the age they’re starting to engage with it.’
Crump also fears a real impact on science in school. ‘I learnt so much from creators on YouTube during my GCSEs – they helped me understand subjects I was studying, and teachers would often point me towards particular accounts. That was especially useful when I’d missed a lesson or hadn’t quite grasped something.’ Crump worries that this ban will hit those who find it difficult to learn in classrooms hardest. He points out that ‘it also creates an odd situation for anyone sitting GCSEs: two students in the same class could end up with different access to the same learning resources, simply because of when their birthday falls’.
So, what happens next?
David Hillyard, chief executive and founder of Craig’n’Dave who posts computer science videos on YouTube, says, if necessary, they’ll move their videos to another platform not included in the ban – one that doesn’t include social interactions like commenting such as Tella. One downside is that they’ll lose the recommendation algorithms that make students and teachers aware of their content.
However, Ewing suggests that a reasonable pivot for content creators would be to redirect content toward adults and make material useful for teachers to bring into a classroom (or guided setting), rather than for a 13-year-old to find alone.
‘It is an initial brick wall,’ Hillyard says. ‘But there are many ways to navigate around it!’
