Maha Abdel-Nasser, deputy chair of the House of Representatives’ Communications and Information Technology Committee, said the issue remains under study and has not reached the stage of preparing a bill.
Speaking in a phone interview on the Al-Youm programme on DMC, Abdel-Nasser said the committee had agreed to hold listening sessions with specialists, experts, and representatives of digital platforms to examine whether a regulatory legislative framework is needed.
She noted that Australia is so far the only country to have enacted legislation banning social media use for children under 16, adding that the Australian experience itself faces challenges in implementation.
Abdel-Nasser said she does not believe an outright ban is the solution, stressing the need for broad societal dialogue before any decision is taken, particularly given the difficulty of enforcing such laws and verifying users’ ages.
She added that Egypt differs from Australia in terms of population size and the level of digital transformation, noting that while some countries may accept such restrictions, others reject them.
Obligating global platforms to comply with local child-protection laws is also difficult, she said, especially since some platforms lack local representatives in Egypt.
Passing legislation may be relatively straightforward, Abdel-Nasser said, but the real challenge lies in implementation, noting that children can often access blocked content through alternative means, limiting the effectiveness of bans.
She stressed that families bear significant responsibility, particularly when parents create social media accounts for their children at a very young age, describing this as primarily a moral responsibility.
She called for greater awareness among parents on controlling smartphone use, activating parental-control tools, and avoiding giving children mobile phones at an early age without clear safeguards.
In a related statement, parliament said the state is considering preparing draft legislation to regulate children’s use of social media platforms, adding that specialised committees will hold broad societal dialogue to gather views from relevant state institutions.
President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has directed authorities to study international experiences of countries that have restricted mobile phone use among certain age groups of children, during a speech marking the 74th anniversary of Police Day in New Cairo.
France’s newly approved ban
The Egyptian move towards regulating Children internet use comes amid a push by several conuntries to pass legislation for the protection of minors.
On Monday, France’s Assemblée Nationale (lower house of parliament) passed a bill banning social media use for children under 15 years old, in a major policy shift aimed at protecting minors from harmful content and excessive screen exposure.
The legislation, backed by President Emmanuel Macron, was approved by a wide majority (130–21) and now moves to the Senate for final adoption before becoming law.
It would also extend an existing school ban on mobile phones in high schools and require platforms to block access for under-15s through age-verification systems once enacted.
The government aims for implementation by the start of the next school year in September 2026.
Australia’s precedent
Australia became the first country in the world to enact a nationwide restriction barring children under 16 from holding accounts on major social media platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube, under legislation that took effect in late 2025.
Compliance requires platforms to prevent under-16s from creating or maintaining accounts, and millions of ineligible accounts have been removed as the law has been enforced.
European countries and the US
Across Europe, debates and proposals for age restrictions have gained traction.
The European Union Parliament has pushed for setting a minimum age of 16 for social media use and other safeguards for minors under the Digital Services Act framework, though the EU’s role and exact powers remain evolving.
Several EU member states, including Denmark, have announced plans to ban under-15s' access, while the United Kingdom has also seen parliamentary votes supporting similar restrictions.
In the United States, regulation of children’s access to social media has advanced primarily at the state level, resulting in a patchwork of laws focused on age verification, parental consent, and platform liability rather than nationwide bans.
Several states, including Arkansas, Utah, and Texas, have passed legislation requiring parental consent for minors, typically under 16 or 18, to create social media accounts.
These laws place responsibility on platforms to verify users’ ages and obtain parental approval before allowing access.
Arkansas was among the first to act, enacting a law in 2023 that required parental consent for users under 18. However, enforcement was blocked by a federal court, which ruled that the law likely violated constitutional protections, including freedom of expression and privacy.
Utah adopted similar measures, mandating parental consent and restricting minors’ access to social media during certain nighttime hours. Parts of the law have faced legal challenges, with courts questioning whether the state can compel platforms to conduct intrusive age verification.
Texas passed legislation aimed at restricting minors’ exposure to harmful online content and strengthening parental control requirements, though it stopped short of a full ban. Like other states, Texas has faced lawsuits from technology companies and civil liberties groups.
In California, lawmakers have taken a different approach, focusing on platform design rather than access. The California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act requires digital services likely to be accessed by children to prioritise safety, limit data collection, and assess risks to minors, without imposing direct age bans.
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