Egyptian Parliament Considers Strict Law to Regulate Children’s Social Media Use

Just like in Australia, Egypt is also planning to prohibit the use of social media among children under the age of 16. The Egyptian Parliament is planning to introduce strict laws regarding the use of social media among children. According to the Parliament, the decision is being taken to protect children from the harmful effects of social media. A special law is expected to be drawn soon.

The Parliament, however, has made it clear that it will consult with the government and relevant expert bodies before enacting the law. The focus is to ensure that the law is able to protect children from the risks that affect their thoughts and behavior. Recently, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi proposed that children should be restricted from using social media. According to him, children should be kept away from social media until they are old enough to use it wisely.

Citing examples from countries like Australia and Britain, the President said that they are working on banning or tightening social media regulations for children. Egypt is also considering following these steps. According to a 2024 government report, approximately 50% of Egyptian children under the age of 18 use social media, exposing them to harmful content, cyberbullying, and online exploitation.

Australia recently became the first country to ban social media for children under 16. Britain and France are also taking steps to tighten social media regulations for children. The Australian government's Online Safety Amendment Act came into effect on December 10th of last year. This law covers major platforms like Reddit, X, Meta, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. According to the regulations, companies must implement age verification to prevent children under 16 from creating accounts. Following the social media ban, Meta removed a total of 550,000 teen accounts from Instagram, Facebook, and Threads within a week.

Keeping children's safety in mind, WhatsApp is also working on a new parental feature. This feature will allow parents to create secondary WhatsApp accounts for their children. This feature will have strict security restrictions, which parents can control from their phones. The child's account will be linked to the parent's primary account via a QR code, keeping security in the parents' hands.

According to reports, this new system will require parents to set a 6-digit primary PIN. This PIN will be required whenever any major changes are made to the child's account. During setup, parents will need to scan the QR code on the child's device with their phone. After this, the child will not be able to change the settings on their own and the account will remain under complete parental supervision.