Supreme Council for Media Regulation and National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority: Measures to protect children from the risks of social media platforms
The Supreme Council for Media Regulation and the National Telecom Regulatory Authority issued a joint decision obligating social media platforms to take measures that enhance the protection of children and youth in the digital environment. This decision follows President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s directives to all state and societal institutions, particularly regarding the protection of children and youth from the risks and misuse of social media.
The decision reflects the Egyptian state’s commitment to providing a safe digital environment for its children and youth, protecting them from content and practices that may pose risks to their psychological, social, and digital well-being, while simultaneously safeguarding their right to safe and responsible use of technology.
The decision targets the protection of children and youth under the age of 15 by dividing age groups into two main categories. The first category includes children under the age of 13, for whom platforms are required not to create, activate, or allow independent personal accounts. The second category covers children aged 13 to under 15, for whom platforms may allow account creation, provided that Safe Mode is automatically and mandatorily enabled. Children in this age group must not be able to disable Safe Mode unilaterally while they remain within this category. Platforms are also required to adopt effective and proportionate measures to verify age, prevent circumvention of age limits, and adhere to principles of personal data protection by minimizing the data collected for verification purposes.
The decision also includes reviewing existing accounts and taking necessary steps to rectify the status of accounts that are proven or likely, through reliable mechanisms, to belong to users under the age of 15, while providing a clear mechanism for appeals and age correction in cases of error.
Engineer Khaled Abdel Aziz, Chairman of the Supreme Council for Media Regulation, affirmed that protecting children and youth in the digital environment has become a shared responsibility among the state, families, society, and digital platforms. He noted that the President’s directives provide a clear framework for state institutions to act toward creating a safer environment for our children and youth.
He added that the objective of the new measures is not to deprive children of technology or isolate them from digital progress, but to ensure that their use of technology is safe, responsible, and appropriate to their age and ability to handle digital risks.
