Dubai: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has joined a growing list of countries that have set an age cap for social media use as governments across the world look to address concerns over the impact of online platforms on children.
Boys and girls will have to be at least 15 years old to be eligible for entry into social, making the UAE the first Arab country to introduce such a restriction.
Countries which have already enforced such bans are Australia, Brazil, Indonesia and Malaysia.
The UK and France are among nations which are close to legislation barring social media use for children below a certain age.
According to a resolution approved on Thursday, children under 15 will be prohibited from creating, using or operating personal social media accounts. Hence, they will not be able to post content, comment, share or join public groups, the UAE government’s media office said.
Those in the age group of 15 and 16 will be allowed to use social media platforms subject to enhanced safeguards, including age-appropriate content controls, restrictions on interaction with unknown users, screen-time management tools and parental supervision features.
All social media platforms operating in the UAE will come under these rules and will have to put in place robust age-verification measures, including digital identity checks and artificial intelligence-supported technologies.
