Govt to make age assurance of 13 on social media platforms mandatory, may consider raising minimum age to 18 too: Josephine Teo

Singapore's Minister for Digital Development and Information, Josephine Teo, has announced that the government will make age assurance of 13 on social media platforms mandatory, potentially raising the minimum age to 18 as well. Teo explained that the government will consider enforcement measures for platforms that fail to introduce stronger safeguards.

Since self-declaration is insufficient, the government plans to enforce age assurance through three methods: age estimation, age inference, and age verification. Currently, Singapore already requires age assurance for designated app stores, preventing young users under 18 from accessing age-inappropriate apps. The government proposes to adopt a similar approach with social media platforms.

If a platform refuses to implement age assurance measures, it may not be able to access users under the age of 18. The government intends to go beyond just these six initial platforms and is open to any proposed technologies for implementing these measures. The government acknowledges that stronger safeguards for teen users are necessary, but a blanket ban is not recommended.

Instead, they plan to work with platforms to introduce features such as daily time limits on platform use to mitigate excessive or problematic use. The government also recognizes the need for societal support for parents, who may find it difficult to devote time and attention to helping their children with social media use.