Senator Legarda pushes bill setting 16 as minimum age for social media account owners

Senator Loren Legarda has filed Senate Bill No. 1955, or the “Children’s Safety in Social Media Act,” which proposes setting a minimum age of 16 for owning accounts on age-restricted social media platforms. The bill also requires platform providers to take responsibility for enforcing this restriction.

“Social media has transformed how Filipinos learn, communicate, and participate in public life. It can inform and inspire, but it can also mislead, overwhelm, and harm,” she said.

Under the proposal, social media companies would be primarily responsible for implementing reasonable, proportionate, and privacy-conscious measures to prevent minors from creating or maintaining accounts, rather than placing the burden on children, parents, or schools.

“Our children deserve that same protection now, in spaces where algorithms shape what they see, what they believe, and how they behave,” she added.

The bill also includes safeguards to ensure it does not infringe on freedom of expression, emphasizing that any regulation must be lawful, necessary, and proportionate.

“While freedom of expression remains a cornerstone of our democratic life, it must be exercised within the bounds of law and with due regard for the rights of others,” she said.

It further mandates age verification systems that comply with the Data Privacy Act of 2012, ensuring minimal data collection and prohibiting reliance solely on government-issued IDs.

“Protecting children online requires enforceable duties for platforms and a framework that remains consistent with constitutional freedoms,” Legarda said.

In addition, the measure promotes digital literacy and media education in schools, encourages parental guidance tools within platforms, and establishes an inter-agency council led by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), with participation from other government agencies to coordinate responses to online harms.

“It takes a village to raise a child, and it likewise takes a whole-of-society framework to protect children in digital spaces shaped by rapidly evolving technologies,” she said.

The bill is currently pending in the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media, with secondary referrals to the Committees on Science and Technology and Finance.