BOHOL 3rd District Rep. Kristine Alexie Besas Tutor proposed on Friday a ban on social media accounts for children ages 15 and below, and verified parental or guardian consent for minors ages 16 and 17.
Under her proposal, accounts of 16- and 17-year-olds should also have parental controls covering privacy, contact with strangers, content, spending and usage time.
”The Philippines should set clear age-based rules to protect children on social media and online gaming platforms,” Tutor said.
The same protections, Tutor added, should apply to online gaming platforms that allow children to interact with strangers, access user-generated content, use open chat or spend money.
While welcoming Meta and Roblox’s commitments to strengthen age verification and parental controls, Tutor stressed that children should not depend solely on voluntary measures by technology companies.
She called for stronger privacy protections for minors, including limits on commercial profiling and the collection, use, retention and sharing of their personal data.
”Strangers, predators, violent content, gambling, manipulation and commercial exploitation can now reach children through a phone,” Tutor added.
Tutor urged the government to enforce existing protections, while calling on Congress to legislate additional age restrictions, platform obligations, safeguards and penalties.
