EXPLAINER: How are other countries enforcing social media bans for minors?

A bill proposing a social media ban for minors is among the priority measures of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), according to Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian.

Gatchalian said he continues to push for the measure, noting that several countries have already implemented similar restrictions, including Australia, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates.

But how exactly are these countries enforcing their social media bans?

“Humingi tayo ng tatlong priority bills sa mga senador para tutukan ng Senado itong mga priority bills. So nag-submit ako ng tatlo, isa roon ay ‘yung pagbawal o pag-ban ng social media sa mga 16 years old [and] below,” Gatchalian said.

(We asked senators to identify three priority bills for the Senate to focus on. I submitted three, and one of them is the proposal to prohibit or ban social media for those aged 16 and below.)

The Senate President said the latest country to move toward a similar ban is the United Kingdom.

“Ang pinaka-latest ay United Kingdom kasi nakita nila itong algorithm na nakakaadik at kung ano ‘yung pinapanood mo, ito rin ‘yung pumapasok sa algorithm mo at lalo kang naaadik,” he said.

(The latest is the United Kingdom because they saw how addictive these algorithms can be. Whatever you watch keeps feeding into your algorithm, making you even more hooked.)

On June 15, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that the UK would ban social media use for children below 16.

The decision followed a national consultation involving more than 116,000 parents, children, and experts.

Results showed that nine out of 10 parents supported the proposed ban, while two out of three young respondents agreed that children under 16 should not be allowed to use certain social media platforms.

The UK’s social media ban is expected to take effect in 2027.

Since December 2025, several countries have already rolled out restrictions on minors’ social media use. Here’s how they are implementing them:

Australia

Australia became the first country to implement restrictions on social media use for children.

Under the policy, which took effect in December 2025, platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Threads, YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat were ordered to block users below 16.

Platforms that violated the ban initially faced fines of up to A$49.5 million, or more than P2 billion.

In February 2026, a report showed that about 20% — or one in five — Australian teenagers aged 13 to 15 were still using TikTok and Snapchat.

As of June 2026, more than five million accounts had reportedly been deactivated or restricted.

Still, the Australian government said studies showed many minors were finding ways to bypass the restrictions.

Data published in the British Medical Journal showed that 85% of 408 adolescents monitored were still able to access social media three months after the ban took effect.

The study found that some platforms relied only on self-declared ages or selfie-based verification instead of requiring valid IDs, allowing many minors to slip through.

Following the findings, Australia on June 27 announced plans to double penalties for non-compliant platforms.

Malaysia

Malaysia began requiring social media platforms to adopt “effective age verification measures” starting June 1 to prevent children below 16 from registering.

“The measure is aimed at mitigating child users’ exposure to harmful content, unsafe interactions and platform features that may not be suitable for their age,” the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission said.

The rule applies to platforms with at least eight million users in Malaysia, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

Among the required age-verification methods is the submission of government-issued documents such as IDs or passports.

Under Malaysia’s policy, platforms must also comply with data protection laws to safeguard users’ personal information.

If a user’s age cannot be verified, they may be barred from creating an account or may face restricted access to certain features.

Violators face fines of up to 10 million Malaysian Ringgit, or roughly P150 million.

United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates became the first Arab nation to impose age restrictions on social media use.

Under a resolution passed on June 18, the minimum age for social media use was set at 15.

Children below 15 are prohibited from creating or using personal social media accounts, posting content, commenting, sharing, or joining public groups.

Those aged 15 and 16 may use social media but will be subject to safeguards such as parental supervision, screen-time controls, and restrictions on interacting with unknown users.

The UAE resolution also requires platforms to disable accounts created by children under 15 and prevent minors from bypassing age-verification systems.

Approved age-verification methods include checking official identity documents, biometric matching, and other methods approved by the UAE’s Child Digital Safety Council.

Self-declaration of age will not be accepted.

Social media companies have been given 12 months to fully comply with the new rules.—Vince Angelo Ferreras, with research from GMA DigiLab/MCG, GMA News