Singapore will introduce legislation early next year requiring social media platforms to implement stronger safeguards for teenage users, including a possible daily time limit, Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo told reporters on August 28, CNA reported.
Platforms that cannot or will not adopt the stronger safeguards could see their minimum access age raised to 18, Teo said. The measures would apply to the six services currently covered under Singapore’s existing code of practice: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, HardwareZone and X.
Teo said the government wants platforms to address “stranger danger,” meaning direct messages from unknown users, along with algorithmic feeds, autoplay and infinite scroll. Officials have discussed how to build a natural stopping point into infinite scroll, and a time limit has been raised as one possible mechanism. “The idea has been put forward when we engaged with many different groups, that a time limit for the use of a particular platform … could be one way of dealing with infinite scroll,” she said.
A Reference Point, Not a Template
Teo pointed to Meta’s U.S. settlement, which caps daily use of Facebook and Instagram combined at two hours before tightening to one hour per platform in a second phase, as a useful reference point rather than a model Singapore will copy outright. She noted differences in detail: Meta’s settlement lets parents of teen users turn on autoplay, which remains on by default, while Singapore wants autoplay off by default with parents able to enable it.
She declined to commit to a specific number of hours. “It doesn’t mean if you use a service for 59 minutes it’s very safe, and then if you use it for 61 minutes it’s very unsafe,” she said. An expert panel convened by the Ministry of Health found that one in three users aged 15 to 17 already spend more than three hours a day on social media, and one in six users aged 10 to 24 show signs of problematic use. “What it does suggest is that three hours is a bit too long. It ought to be less than that,” Teo said.
Age Checks Already Underway
Singapore already requires age assurance at the app store level, using a mix of age estimation, age inference and age verification methods that platform operators propose and the government approves if “reasonably robust.” Teo said the same approach will extend to social media platforms, which have known about the age assurance requirements “for a long time” and about the stronger safeguards for nine to 12 months. She acknowledged the checks may require repeat verification if a platform later suspects a user is younger than previously assessed, and said data collected for age assurance will be gathered “in a proportionate manner.”
Teo said engagement with teens suggests they broadly accept the need for safeguards and support a tiered-access approach, while also raising concerns about users younger than themselves.
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong first announced the push for stronger youth safeguards in his National Day Rally speech in August, criticizing self-declared age minimums as insufficient enforcement.
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Singapore will introduce legislation early next year requiring social media platforms to implement stronger safeguards for teenage users, including a possible daily time limit, Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo told reporters on August 28, CNA reported.
Platforms that cannot or will not adopt the stronger safeguards could see their minimum access age raised to 18, Teo said. The measures would apply to the six services currently covered under Singapore’s existing code of practice: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, HardwareZone and X.
Teo said the government wants platforms to address “stranger danger,” meaning direct messages from unknown users, along with algorithmic feeds, autoplay and infinite scroll. Officials have discussed how to build a natural stopping point into infinite scroll, and a time limit has been raised as one possible mechanism. “The idea has been put forward when we engaged with many different groups, that a time limit for the use of a particular platform … could be one way of dealing with infinite scroll,” she said.
A Reference Point, Not a Template
Teo pointed to Meta’s U.S. settlement, which caps daily use of Facebook and Instagram combined at two hours before tightening to one hour per platform in a second phase, as a useful reference point rather than a model Singapore will copy outright. She noted differences in detail: Meta’s settlement lets parents of teen users turn on autoplay, which remains on by default, while Singapore wants autoplay off by default with parents able to enable it.
She declined to commit to a specific number of hours. “It doesn’t mean if you use a service for 59 minutes it’s very safe, and then if you use it for 61 minutes it’s very unsafe,” she said. An expert panel convened by the Ministry of Health found that one in three users aged 15 to 17 already spend more than three hours a day on social media, and one in six users aged 10 to 24 show signs of problematic use. “What it does suggest is that three hours is a bit too long. It ought to be less than that,” Teo said.
Age Checks Already Underway
Singapore already requires age assurance at the app store level, using a mix of age estimation, age inference and age verification methods that platform operators propose and the government approves if “reasonably robust.” Teo said the same approach will extend to social media platforms, which have known about the age assurance requirements “for a long time” and about the stronger safeguards for nine to 12 months. She acknowledged the checks may require repeat verification if a platform later suspects a user is younger than previously assessed, and said data collected for age assurance will be gathered “in a proportionate manner.”
Teo said engagement with teens suggests they broadly accept the need for safeguards and support a tiered-access approach, while also raising concerns about users younger than themselves.
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong first announced the push for stronger youth safeguards in his National Day Rally speech in August, criticizing self-declared age minimums as insufficient enforcement.
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