Metro Manila, Philippines – The Senate approved on third and final reading a bill prohibiting children below 18 years old from creating social media accounts, with proposed safeguards requiring platforms to verify user age and protect their personal information.
In step with an emerging movement among some governments to ban minors on social media, Senate Bill 2424, or the Safe Media Access and Responsible Technology for Kids in Digital Spaces (SMART Kids) Act, obtained 16 affirmative votes, one negative vote, with no abstention. Sen. Risa Hontiveros was the lone negative vote.
Sponsored by Senator Robinhood Padilla, the bill seeks to protect children from physical, mental, social, and emotional harm associated with social media use.
Padilla described the measure as a step toward strengthening online protection for children and establishing safeguards for high-risk digital services.
Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian, a co-author and co-sponsor of the bill, highlighted provisions requiring government-issued identification for age verification.
Under the proposed safeguards, identification documents would be used only to confirm user age. Social media platforms would not be allowed to retain copies of the ID submitted for verification.
The bill would prohibit children below 18 from registering, accessing, using, maintaining or operating accounts on age-restricted social media platforms.
However, the restrictions would not cover email services, private messaging applications without public or group features, school platforms, news websites and online gaming platforms.
International social media companies operating in the country would be required to designate local representatives and coordinate with authorities in implementing the restrictions.
High-risk digital services found violating the proposed law could face administrative fines ranging from ₱5 million to ₱20 million per violation.
Parents and guardians who violate the measure could also face fines ranging from ₱5,000 to ₱20,000 or be required to perform community service.
Senator Risa Hontiveros cast the lone dissenting vote.
“Social media has become a space where young people build and maintain their connections with their friends, communities, families, and loved ones. An outright ban strips away these very connections that have become so important in their day-to-day lives,” Hontiveros said.
A counterpart measure at the House of Representatives has already been approved on second reading Tuesday.
The House bill seeks a cap of 13 years old and below from creating social media accounts, while allowing teenagers aged 14 to 17 limited access, subject to restrictions on harmful content, livestreaming, algorithm-driven short videos and online purchases.
