Digital Pinoys Urges Stronger Social Media Safeguards for Children Instead of Blanket Ban
Key Takeaways
- •Digital Pinoys, a digital advocacy group, has called on Philippine lawmakers to reject a blanket social media ban for children in favor of stronger platform safeguards and age-appropriate rules.
- •The House of Representatives approved a measure barring children under 13 from social media, while its counterpart proposes prohibiting those under 18 from maintaining accounts.
- •The bicameral conference committee must reconcile the differing age thresholds and decide which child-safety provisions appear in the final legislation.
- •National campaigner Ronald B. Gustilo proposed age-tiered requirements covering content and contact restrictions, privacy protections, reporting mechanisms, screen-time controls, and accountability for platforms that fail to protect young users.
- •Gustilo argued that protecting children requires addressing mechanisms behind grooming, exploitation, and harmful content, and building digital literacy, rather than simply restricting access.
Digital advocacy group Digital Pinoys has urged Philippine lawmakers to reject a blanket social media ban for children, calling instead for stronger platform safeguards and age-appropriate rules to address online risks.
In a statement on Tuesday, national campaigner Ronald B. Gustilo said the bicameral conference committee, the body that will reconcile the two chambers' versions of the bill, should establish protections against grooming, exploitation and harmful content without limiting children's digital participation.
"Child protection should not be reduced to keeping children away from social media. We need to protect them from grooming, exploitation, harmful content and other online threats while ensuring they develop the digital literacy and critical thinking skills they will need as they grow older," Mr. Gustilo said.
The House of Representatives approved its version of the measure on Monday, which would bar children below 13 from accessing social media. Its counterpart measure proposes prohibiting those below 18 from maintaining social media accounts. Whichever threshold prevails, the reconciled text would set the country's baseline age for social media use and, if Digital Pinoys' proposals are adopted, define the child-safety obligations platforms would have to meet.
Mr. Gustilo said lawmakers should adopt age-tiered safety requirements that recognize differences in children's maturity and digital needs.
He called for mandatory platform safeguards, including age-appropriate content and contact restrictions, stronger privacy protections, reporting mechanisms, screen-time controls, and accountability for platforms that fail to protect young users — requirements that would apply directly to social media companies serving young users in the Philippines if written into the law.
"The question is not simply whether children should be allowed or prohibited from using social media. The question is how we make their participation safer. A blanket ban may restrict access, but it does not automatically address the mechanisms that expose children to harm," he said.
He urged lawmakers to prioritize children's welfare and hold platforms accountable rather than simply disconnecting young users. Attention now turns to the bicameral conference committee, where negotiators must settle on a single age threshold and determine which of the proposed safeguards, if any, make it into the final measure.
This report was originally published by BusinessWorld. Reporting by Erika Mae P. Sinaking.
