Possibility of Legislation Similar to Australia's Social Media Ban for Those Under 16 for Singapore

Mr Vikram Nair asked the Minister for Digital Development and Information (a) whether the Ministry has completed its review of the Australian government's move to ban social media access for individuals under the age of 16 through legislation; and (b) if so, whether the Ministry will consider introducing similar legislation.

Mr Speaker, Australia's social media minimum age regulations came into effect on 10 December 2025. The Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) is actively engaging our Australian counterparts and assessing the effectiveness of the measures in Australia.

Meanwhile, we have progressively introduced measures to better protect our children when they go online.

We have imposed age assurance requirements on designated app stores to reduce the likelihood of under-18 users accessing and downloading age-inappropriate apps of all types, beyond just social media apps. Designated app stores are expected to implement these age assurance measures by 31 March 2026.

We also plan to extend age assurance requirements to designated social media services to reduce children's exposure to age-inappropriate content on social media platforms. The age assurance measures will come on top of the existing protective measures for children under the current Code of Practice for Online Safety – Social Media Services. Consultations with designated social media services are ongoing.

We acknowledge parental concerns about the impact of social media on their children as well as the potential implementation challenges of age assurance requirements. There is no silver bullet. A child can still circumvent these measures, such as through using an adult's account to access age-inappropriate content. This is why MDDI will continue to work with partners from the people, private and public sectors, to co-create resources and programmes that are convenient and accessible for parents to help guide their children to foster healthy digital habits from young.

I thank the Minister of State for the reply. And I think the age assurance practices are probably a good first step. I would just like to clarify whether the social media platforms are then required to take steps to prevent these young users from using those platforms. Because I think there are two issues: one is harmful content, and the second is addiction to the platforms itself even if the content may not be ostensibly harmful.

So, that is why a clean block and putting the obligation on the social media platform to verify age before the users are allowed to use it, sounds like a tidy solution – and that is what they have done in Australia. It is not perfect, but it sets a clear line.

Mr Speaker, I thank the Member for the question, and I appreciate the concern. I would like to assure the Member that we are indeed studying and trying to figure out what is the best approach for this.

How we have been looking at this issue is that, yes, indeed, it is not just a function of accessing it. There are three main things that we look at.

First is screen time, which is one key area and that leads to addiction. If you are spending too much time and you are not controlling that, that is a big issue.

The second is inappropriate content. And which is why, we then need to have certain measures to make sure that children are not exposed to this.

The third is undesirable online behaviours, such as cyber bullying and all the types of behaviours we have tried to prevent through the Online Safety (Relief and Accountability) Bill, for example.

So, we are categorising and looking at the multi-dimensional effect of the social media platforms.

While the legislative changes that the Member is hearing which are happening in other countries sound very attractive and seem like an obvious solution, what I think we want to ensure is a meaningful implementation that will actually make a difference in the experience of the children and the parents. So, we have been looking at it.

I would want to highlight a couple of points.

Firstly, we have observed some implementation challenges in what Australia is trying to do. There was an observation that there was a migration of children or the users to platforms that are not within the regulatory ambit. So, we have to make sure that if we do this, it is something that will be quite meaningful. We are also seeing people bypassing it. So, we need to make sure that the enforcement measures are clear cut because children can use their parents' identification, so, the structure needs to be in place there. There was also a rise in virtual private networks, which then, undermines all these. So, we want to make sure that we can address some of those concerns meaningfully.

Second, I would highlight that we are not starting from a blank slate. It is not like we do not have measures in place. There are very strong regulatory measures that are already in place. We already have the Code of Practice on Online Safety for designated social media services, which we have already put in place. We have also implemented age assurance requirements for apps and so, it means that they now have to stop the users who are below a certain age from coming in.

We have not been prescriptive with how age assurance measures are put in, because even for age assurance, you have age verification and age estimation. These are some of the things that we know we want to allow platforms to put in. We have set the targets. We are outcome-driven. We say, "You must put in place these things to ensure that children are not exposed to these things." How they actually do that is something that they have to look at in their circumstances. So, that is the second bit. There are already some structures in place to provide safeguards and ensure that it is a healthy ecosystem for children.

And the third thing is that we are doing more. We are actually looking at how we can continue to improve regulatory infrastructure to support this and we take a multi-prong approach. So, it is not just about having the legislation; it is also about building capability within the community, and which is why I mentioned about helping to build healthy digital habits and providing support for parents through resources and programmes on the ground. This is something that we will be ramping up in time.

I hope that this is something that we can work together on because there are multiple stakeholders: parents have to play a part, the regulators, the social media platforms. Indeed, we are in close contact with them to ensure that they are doing their best. So, these engagements are underway.

And we are also studying the technology. We are trying to figure out what is the best solution in these circumstances.

I hope that gives an appreciation that we are really appreciating and understanding the concerns and we are trying to figure out a robust approach that fits and would be meaningful for parents and children in Singapore.