ASEAN Beat | Society | Southeast Asia

Philippine Lower House Passes Bill Restricting Social Media Access of Minors

If passed into law, the country will become the fourth in Southeast Asia to introduce youth social media restrictions of some kind.

The Philippine House of Representatives yesterday approved a measure barring children under the age of 13 from social media. It has become the latest nation in Southeast Asia to tighten online safety provisions for minors.

The Safe and Friendly Environment for Kids in Digital Spaces Act was passed nearly unanimously, with 287 lawmakers voting in favor and three against, Inquirer.net reported.

The measures align the Philippines with a growing global effort to restrict minors’ access to social media platforms, in the interests of protecting them from cyberbullying, online fraud, and exposure to pornography, among other perceived threats.

In the Philippines, the legislative push has come after a string of incidents of school violence that the government believes were driven by online content. Last month, a 16-year-old shot dead two fellow students and injured eight others at a school in the southern Philippines, before taking his own life.

This followed a similar incident in the same region in August, in which a student at a Catholic school live-streamed himself shooting and killing ​a classmate before taking his own life. Also in June, two students shot and killed three and injured seven of their peers at a school in Tacloban, allegedly in response to bullying.

Under the proposed bill, children aged 13 and below would be prohibited from creating social media accounts. Meanwhile, a variety of restrictions would be put in place for those under 18 years of age. They will be barred from making online purchases and engaging with “gambling-like mechanisms” and other features that may pose “reasonably foreseeable and material risks” to their well-being. They would also be shielded from harmful ads and algorithmic short-video feeds that encourage limitless scrolling, according to Inquirer.net.

Filipinos are heavy users of social media. The country has the sixth-largest pool of Facebook users in the world, with more than 102........

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