South Korea Considers Restricting SNS Access for Children Under 14

As many countries around the world introduce policies to prevent teenagers from becoming overly immersed in social media, the South Korean government has also begun reviewing regulatory measures.

The proposed plan includes restricting children under 14 from signing up for platforms like YouTube and social media, and gradually limiting the exposure of users aged 14 to 19 to algorithms and designs that induce addiction.

[Interview] Kim Jong-cheol / Chairperson of the Korea Communications Commission: "Given our experience with the game shutdown system, it would be appropriate to go through a process of social consensus and take a customized, step-by-step approach rather than approaching this rashly."

In December last year, Australia became the first country in the world to completely ban children under 16 from holding social media accounts.

Platforms that violate this are subject to fines of up to 48 billion won, and there are ongoing efforts to raise the ceiling for these fines.

In Asia, Indonesia introduced regulations in March to block the creation of new accounts for those under 16 on major platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, and to deactivate existing accounts, with a phased implementation currently underway.

The United Kingdom has gone a step further, pushing for a total ban for those under 16 while also announcing the introduction of a so-called "digital curfew" that would restrict late-night usage for those aged 16 to 17.

The European Union has also announced plans to introduce legislation restricting children's access to social media after this summer, signaling that regulations on adolescent social media use are spreading across borders.

However, in South Korea, discussions have been slow to gain momentum, caught between "age restrictions" that block accounts entirely and "indirect regulations" that strengthen the responsibility of platforms for their algorithms.

While seven related bills have been proposed in the National Assembly, a timeline for their processing has not yet been set.

Reported by Sim Yeong-gu | Video by Ryu Ji-soo | Graphics by Lee Jeong-ju | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.