How Singapore Planned Safer, Age-Appropriate Social Media for Children

Singapore’s debate over children and social media was driven by two linked problems: young users may encounter harmful or developmentally unsuitable experiences online, while many parents do not feel equipped to manage those risks. MDDI’s proposed direction was a layered model involving age-based access, safer platform design, regulation and more support for families—not a single measure applied to every child.

What parents were most worried about

MDDI’s February 2025 Digital Parenting Survey covered 1,986 resident parents of children aged 2 to 17. The most frequently cited concern was exposure to inappropriate content, reported by 81% of respondents. Other leading concerns included contact with strangers (57%), cyberbullying (54%) and screen addiction or overuse (51%).

Parents also identified misinformation (40%), racially or religiously inflammatory content (33%), effects on physical wellness (31%) and privacy (30%) as concerns.

The survey pointed to a confidence gap at home: only 37% of parents said they felt confident guiding their child’s digital habits. Parents who lacked confidence cited time constraints, children resisting rules or bypassing controls, and limited knowledge of monitoring tools. More than half said they wanted greater government support.

A case reported by The Straits Times reflected some of the worries around excessive use, social comparison and self-image: one parent said her daughters had spent about four hours a day on social media when they were under 12.

What the July 25 focus group was designed to address

MDDI and The Straits Times planned a parent-focused discussion for July 25, 2026, from 8.45am to 1pm at the NTUC Centre, 1 Marina Boulevard. The session was intended to gather views on the Government’s child-safety proposals while raising awareness of what a child-safe digital environment should involve.

The central questions were practical and age-specific:

• Should children under 13 be allowed to access social-media platforms?
• What safeguards should apply to older children, including users up to 18?
• How can online experiences be made more age-appropriate rather than treating all young users alike?

The announced panel included Digital Development and Information Minister Josephine Teo, Minister of State Rahayu Mahzam, Dr Lim Choon Guan, head of the Institute of Mental Health’s Department of Development Psychiatry, and James Tan, chief executive of TOUCH Community Services. The Straits Times associate editor Karamjit Kaur was to moderate.

The event formed part of broader MDDI focus-group discussions with parents and youths in June and July. Those sessions were co-organised with community partners to collect views and build awareness of a whole-of-society approach to child safety online.

The policy direction: age-based access plus safer design

MDDI presented tiered, or age-based, access as one possible way to recognise that children’s needs change as they mature. Minister Teo said that below a certain age, no access might be the best approach, while older children could require progressively different protections rather than an automatic exclusion from every service.

The discussion also placed responsibility on platforms. MDDI said safer digital environments should address the content children can see, the people they can interact with and the amount of time they spend on services. The Government’s position, as reported after the forum, was that blocking access was not the preferred outcome but could be considered for platforms that failed to provide necessary safeguards.

That distinction matters for parents: the proposed framework was not simply about setting a birthday at which access switches on. It also raised questions about age assurance, product design, moderation, interaction controls and how platforms should adapt experiences for younger users.

Singapore’s existing online-safety rules

The consultations took place against an expanding regulatory framework.

Social-media services

Singapore’s Code of Practice for Online Safety – Social Media Services, introduced in 2023, requires designated social-media services to maintain systems and processes aimed at reducing users’—particularly children’s—access to harmful content.

App stores

The App Distribution Services code, rolled out in March 2025, requires designated app stores to reduce exposure to harmful content and use age-assurance measures to prevent users under 18 from accessing age-inappropriate apps.

Redress for online harm

The Online Safety Commission began operating in June 2026. It provides a channel for victims of online harm to seek timely redress, and parents or guardians can report on behalf of children under 18.

Together, these measures move some of the burden away from individual families and toward services that design, distribute and operate digital products. They do not eliminate the need for parental guidance, but they are intended to make that guidance more workable.

How experts, youths and the public were involved

On July 17, MDDI and the Institute of Policy Studies held the MDDI–IPS Forum on Fostering Child-Safe Digital Environments on Social Media. The forum brought together global regulators, community and industry partners, academics and other experts. Its discussions considered the trade-offs between minimum-age restrictions, safer platform design, digital literacy and the responsibilities of parents, platforms and policymakers.

MDDI also engaged youths. A July 4 session brought together about 75 participants aged 13 to 35 to discuss whether tiered access could make social-media platforms safer and what levels of access might be appropriate for different age groups.

Parents of children aged 0 to 17 could additionally take part in the “Keeping Children Safe Online” CrowdTask public survey through Singpass until the end of July. The survey sought views on proposed online-safety enhancements. MDDI said the engagement findings would help refine its approach and identify gaps in public awareness and family expectations.

The bigger question for families

Singapore’s approach was shaping up around a shared-responsibility model: parents guide children, platforms build safer services, experts assess developmental and mental-health risks, and the Government sets baseline protections and channels for redress. The unresolved issue was how to balance meaningful protection with the reality that social media is already part of many young people’s lives.

The consultations therefore focused less on whether children should be online in the abstract and more on what they should be able to see, do and experience at different ages—and which protections should be built into the services themselves.