Children may no longer use or have limited access to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube if House Bill 5307 or the Social Media Regulation and Protection Act of 2019 becomes law. In the proposal, children below 13 years old may not access social media.
Although Facebook already bans users below 13 years old from using its services, there are still many underage users on the site. Many parents even create accounts for their children on Facebook and let them use it, which is not allowed.
According to Deputy Speaker and Laguna Representative Dan Fernandez, principal author of the proposal, the bill aims to protect children whose personal information may be harvested by companies. He wants social media sites to have stricter implementation of this age limit and to inform parents when their children use the sites. His bill also seeks to automatically limit the use of social media apps to 30 minutes per day.
Facebook also prohibits the posting of nude pictures of children to protect them from sexual predators and pedophiles. Nude photos with private parts covered in emojis will also be taken down. Recently, Facebook banned the use of emojis and emoji strings that are sexually suggestive.
