Singapore considers raising minimum social media age to 18 for non-compliant platforms
Government officials discuss potential safeguards against stranger danger and addictive features
Quick Look
- Singapore is considering raising the minimum age for social media access to 18 for platforms that fail to implement stronger safety measures.
- Minister Teo highlighted concerns over stranger danger, algorithmic feeds, and addictive features like infinite scroll.
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Why It Matters
Singapore currently enforces a code of practice for six major social media services. The government is engaging with various groups to address user safety and platform design.
If a platform could not or did not want to introduce these stronger safeguards, Singapore intended to raise the minimum age of access to that platform to 18, Teo told journalists in an interview on Friday.
The government wanted to know what platforms could do to protect teen users from “stranger danger”, or direct messages from people unknown to them, she said.
Algorithmic feeds, autoplay and infinite scroll are also a concern, with discussions touching on how to introduce a natural stop point for infinite scroll.
“The idea has been put forward when we engaged with many different groups, that a time limit for the use of a particular platform … could be one way of dealing with infinite scroll,” said Teo.
Singapore currently has a code of practice that covers six designated social media services: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, HardwareZone and X.
Open Questions
- Which specific platforms will be targeted for age restrictions?
- What is the timeline for implementing these potential changes?
