Overview
- The UAE Cabinet approved the resolution on June 18 that makes 15 the minimum age for creating or using personal social media accounts and starts a transition period of up to 12 months for platforms to comply.
- Platforms must replace self-declared ages with stronger age verification such as digital identity systems or AI and biometric tools approved by the Child Digital Safety Council, with regular review and user notice about how checks work.
- Companies must disable accounts belonging to under‑15s, stop using children’s personal data for targeted advertising or behavioural profiling, and may be penalised or partially or fully blocked for non‑compliance under TDRA and media authority enforcement.
- Parental consent cannot be used to exempt anyone under 15 and 15‑ and 16‑year‑olds may use services only with extra safeguards like age‑appropriate content controls, limits on unknown‑user chat features, screen‑time tools, and parental controls.
- The move follows similar policies in other countries and raises disputed tradeoffs: regulators aim to curb harm from content and data collection while experts warn that invasive verification can harm privacy, worsen equity, and drive teens to smaller or less regulated platforms.