Social Media Ban For Under-15s Government Pushback

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

The government has raised objections to a Shura Council bid to keep children under 15 off social media, warning that a blanket ban would be hard to police and could put children's private data at risk.

In a memo sent to Parliament with draft changes to the Child Law, the government said children needed stronger protection online, but argued that account bans were too blunt and risked blocking useful digital tools as well as harmful ones.

The bill, put forward by Shura members, would add a new chapter to the 2012 Child Law under the title ‘Digital Safety of the Child’. It would bar under-15s from creating accounts on social media platforms and place those aged 15 to 18 under a rule book covering privacy, harmful content and age checks.

The government said children face clear risks online, from harmful material and cyberbullying to breaches of privacy, grooming and abuse through games, apps and social media.

But it said the draft went too far by treating all online accounts in the same way. Not every platform carried the same risk, it said, and many online services were now tied to schooling, family contact, play, shopping or access to public services.

A general ban, the memo said, could block useful tools as well as harmful ones. It said the law should instead govern use through clear rules that can be put into force.

Those rules could include the consent of a parent or guardian, strong privacy defaults, workable age checks and clear ways to report harmful material or conduct.

The government also said the proposed ban would not catch many real-life forms of use. A child can use a platform without having a separate account, or through a family account, a shared device, or a school device.

For that reason, it said, a ban on account creation would need to sit within a wider scheme that covers parental oversight, public awareness, duties on platforms and the work of the bodies in charge.

The memo raised a second warning over age checks. Asking users to prove their age could lead to platforms collecting extra data about children, including identity papers or other sensitive records.

The government said any such system must comply with personal data law and collect only the least amount of data needed. It said the bill must spell out what data can be taken, who may hold it, how long it can be kept and how misuse will be stopped.