Egypt Bans Independent Social Media Accounts for Those Under 13

The Council stated in a press release that, in accordance with the directives of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to all state institutions and society, particularly regarding the protection of minors and children from the risks and misuse of social media, the Supreme Council for Media Regulation and the National Telecom Regulatory Authority issued a joint decision obliging social media platforms to take measures that enhance the protection of children and minors in the digital environment.

This decision comes in light of Egypt’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 benefit safely and responsibly from technology.

The decision aims to protect children and minors under the age of 15 by dividing age groups into two main categories. The first category covers children under the age of 13, for which platforms are required not to create, activate, or allow independent personal accounts for children in this group. The second category applies to children aged 13 to under 15, for which platforms may allow accounts but must automatically and mandatorily enable Safe Mode, which cannot be disabled by the child alone throughout their stay in this age group. Platforms must also adopt effective and proportionate means of age verification, prevent circumvention of age limits, and adhere to data protection principles by minimizing the amount of data collected for verification purposes.

The decision also includes a review of existing accounts and the necessary measures to regularize the status of accounts that are confirmed or likely, based on reliable mechanisms, to belong to users under the age of 15, while providing a clear mechanism for appeal and age correction in cases of error.