Philippines House approves social media ban for children under 13

The Philippines moved closer on Monday to becoming one of the world's strictest regulators of children's social media use when its lower house of Congress voted to ban platform access for anyone under 13. The measure now heads to a reconciliation process with the Senate, which had already passed its own version—one that goes further, barring anyone under 18 from creating accounts at all. Once the two chambers align on final language, the bill will go to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for signature.

The legislation arrives amid a wave of similar restrictions sweeping across Asia and beyond. Greece, Portugal, Australia, Malaysia, and Indonesia have all moved to curb minors' access to social platforms in recent months, driven by mounting concern about the effects on child mental health, safety, and development. The Philippines is now part of that global conversation, though the country's particular catalyst has been urgent and tragic: three school shootings since June have reignited fierce debate about what role social media and online content play in the lives of young people.

The most recent incident occurred last month when a 16-year-old opened fire at his school, killing at least two fellow students before taking his own life. In August, another student live-streamed himself shooting and killing a classmate, then died by suicide. Gun violence in Philippine schools was historically rare, making these incidents a sharp departure that has shaken the nation and pushed the issue of youth online activity into the center of policy discussions.

President Marcos, however, has signaled caution about how far the restrictions should go. On Sunday, he said he had been reviewing the Senate's bill and expressed concern that a blanket ban on social media could backfire—pushing children to hide their online activities rather than use platforms openly, potentially leaving them more vulnerable to grooming and abuse by predators. His hesitation reflects a genuine tension in the policy debate: how to protect minors without inadvertently driving them into darker corners of the internet where oversight disappears entirely.

The Senate's version is notably stricter than what the lower house approved. While the lower house bill targets children under 13, the Senate wants to raise that threshold to 18, effectively barring all teenagers from creating accounts. The two chambers will now have to negotiate which approach becomes law. Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook and Instagram, along with TikTok and Alphabet, which owns YouTube, have not yet commented on the lower house vote.

The Philippines is not alone in this regulatory push. Malaysia began enforcing age restrictions in June, barring anyone under 16 from registering for social media accounts and requiring platforms to verify age against government-issued identification. The country has given tech companies until January 2027 to comply. Indonesia moved faster, issuing regulations in March that require platforms deemed high-risk to deactivate accounts belonging to children under 16. That list has included X, Instagram, and the video game platform Roblox. As of last week, TikTok had deactivated approximately 9 million accounts of children under 16 in Indonesia, while Meta had removed 85,000 Instagram accounts and 99,000 Facebook accounts in the same age group.

What happens next in the Philippines depends on how the two chambers resolve their differences and whether Marcos signs the final bill. The tech platforms themselves face a choice: comply with whatever age restrictions the law imposes, or face account deactivations like those already underway in Indonesia. The outcome will shape not only how young Filipinos access the internet, but also set a precedent for other nations watching how this particular democracy handles the collision between child protection and digital freedom.