Maldives to introduce under-16 social media ban

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has announced plans to introduce a social media ban for children under the age of 16.

He made the announcement during his weekly press briefing on Monday morning.

Speaking to reporters, President Muizzu said he plans to implement the ban, which will see children under the age of 16 barred from accessing certain social media applications, within one year.

He described it as an important step towards safeguarding children.

President Muizzu said that children, especially adolescents, face increasing dangers from social media, including cyber bullying, online grooming, and exposure to harmful content.

He said that his administration believes it to be part of their legal duties to protect children from such harms.

But he said that the success of the endeavor depends on collaborative effort of all state institutions, non-government organizations, all relevant authorities, and the general public.

President Muizzu said his administration is following the example of Australia, which introduced an under-16 social media ban last year.

“We believe the measures taken by Australia in this is a good benchmark. We therefore plan to carry out work to introduce Australia’s standards in the Maldives, whether it involves legislative changes to introduce measures based on the measures taken by Australia, or holding talks with operators of social media apps,” he said.

The social media ban in Australia, which took effect in December last year, prohibits children under the age of 16 from using major social media services including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, Reddit and streaming platforms Kick and Twitch.

It marked the first ban of its kind in the world.