A House of Representatives panel has approved a substitute bill that would bar children under 13 from using social media entirely and impose content and feature restrictions on users aged 13 to 18.
Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo, chair of the House committee on basic education and culture, presented the still-unnumbered measure during a hearing of the committee on the welfare of children. The bill consolidates 10 separate proposals aimed at protecting minors from online harm.
“Basically, the bill now will be a ban on all social media platforms for those under 13. What we want is for them not to have any screen time,” Romulo said.
For users aged 13 to below 18, the bill would restrict access to short-form video features, messaging applications, and content classified as harmful, which the measure defines as material involving violence, sex, and similar subject matter.
“For those 13 to below 18 years of age, we will have a ban on features such as harmful content, which is defined in the law as topics revolving around violence, sex, and similar topics,” Romulo said. “Scrolling shorts will be banned, and also chat groups. So if you’re 13 [and above but] below 18, you cannot join chat groups. That is where we are headed.”
The bill would also require social media companies to register a Philippine presence if they want to operate in the country, making them subject to local law. “If you are to be accessed by any individual or corporation in the Philippines, you must be registered in the Philippines. If we don’t have jurisdiction over that entity, our authority over the platforms is very hollow,” Romulo said.
The House version differs from the Senate’s counterpart measure. Senate Bill No. 2424, the proposed Child Online Safety and Protection Act, sets 16 as the minimum age for social media use and was transmitted to the plenary on Aug. 26 after approval by the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media. Romulo said the differences between the two chambers’ versions could be reconciled in a bicameral conference committee once both bills clear their respective plenaries.
The technical working group that drafted the House bill left out provisions on parental consent and screen-time limits for adolescents, leaving those matters for floor deliberation. “All members should be heard, as this is an important piece of legislation,” Romulo said.
Momentum for the measure follows two school shootings linked to online radicalization: one at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City on June 22, which killed three students, and another at Ateneo de Zamboanga University on Aug. 18, in which two people, including the gunman, died. Investigators have said both perpetrators were exposed to violent online content or had joined groups associated with nihilistic violent extremism.
On Aug. 28, Sen. Risa Hontiveros said Philippine authorities had secured a commitment from Meta, which operates Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and related messaging platforms, to share information with authorities when a possible threat to children is detected.
The House bill has yet to be numbered or scheduled for plenary debate.
