Gulf country plans law to ban social media accounts for children under 15

MANAMA: Bahrain is preparing to enact legislation to prevent the misuse of social media platforms by children. According to reports, the Gulf country is set to discuss a new bill in the council that would ban children under the age of 15 from creating accounts on social media platforms. The government plans to amend the Children's Law No. 27 of 2012 for this purpose.

If the new law comes into force, children below 15 years of age will not be allowed to open accounts on digital platforms. However, there will be no restriction on children aged between 15 and 18 from creating social media accounts. The law will also introduce controls to prevent content that violates children's privacy from appearing on such platforms.

At the same time, children of all ages will be allowed to create accounts on digital platforms used for educational purposes. The Ministry of Education will decide which platforms fall under this category. Special methods will be introduced to verify the age of users, and penalties will be clearly defined for those who violate the law. The amendment has been submitted by a high-level committee led by Shura Council Second Deputy Chairperson Dr Jehad Al Fadhel.