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| - A post claiming the UK government is to ban TikTok is being shared on Instagram. But there’s no evidence this is true.
The first image in an Instagram carousel post shows a photo of houses seemingly in Britain with overlaid text saying: “Breaking! Britain to ban TikTok after a recent surge in young millionaires”, alongside an image showing the TikTok logo in a red circle with a cross through it.
The caption says: “The UK Government plans to follow the USA in attempts to ban TikTok across Britain after reports surfaced of Brits as young as 18 were earning millions through trading in 2024. [sic]”
But Full Fact could find no evidence that TikTok is set to be banned in Britain, or that the UK government is following the US government in its attempt to ban the app. There have been no such reports by credible media organisations or announcements on TikTok UK’s newsroom, or social media platforms. TikTok confirmed to full Fact that the claim in this post is not true.
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TikTok in the US
Legislation passed in April 2024 means app stores are barred from offering TikTok in the US from January 2025, unless the company is sold by its Chinese parent company ByteDance before this date. This is related to concerns about data from the app’s US users being accessed by the Chinese government through ByteDance, which TikTok has denied. The US Supreme Court has recently agreed to hear legal arguments from TikTok against the ban or forced sale.
In March 2023 the UK government introduced a “precautionary ban on TikTok on government devices” owing to concerns about data collection and “the way in which this data may be used”. But this does not extend to personal devices for government employees, ministers or the general public. Similar measures have been introduced in other countries, which we wrote about before.
The post goes on to claim the supposed ban is related to “controversy” about a man from Luton who went viral for “making thousands” in his first few days of joining a “Money group”, which the page promotes and links to.
Will TikTok be banned for under-16s?
The Instagram post also features what appears to be a short video report that says: “under 16 could get access to Tiktok, Instagram, X and Facebook revoked. It's being proposed in a Private Members’ Bill put forward by a backbench Labour MP, which ministers are considering backing. It follows a similar move last week in Australia. The government believes the proposal would be widely supported.”
It’s correct that a Labour MP, Josh MacAlister, has proposed a Private Member’s Bill—which is a bill that can be put forward by any backbench MP or Lord who isn’t a government minister—which would aim “to make provision for the protection of children accessing digital services and content”. However, it is unclear exactly what this bill will include.
A website dedicated to the proposed bill says it will focus on making “smartphones less addictive for children”, and that Mr MacAlister is “exploring a range of measures that might be included, from raising the age of internet adulthood from 13 to 16 to strengthening Ofcom’s powers to protect children”.
The technology secretary Peter Kyle has said that a possible ban on social media for under-16s is “on the table” in the UK.
Australia’s parliament recently approved a ban on children under the age of 16 using social media, but it is also unclear how this will be implemented.
This is not the first time Full Fact has seen misleading claims about internet companies, including that TikTok had been banned across France, Google Meet is introducing a button to turn all cameras on at once, or that Facebook is suddenly sharing private posts.
Claims like these can spread quickly online, creating confusion and uncertainty. It’s always worth checking whether information you see online comes from credible sources before sharing it.
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