The United Arab Emirates announced a social media ban for children under 15 on Thursday, joining a growing group of countries including Australia, Britain and Canada to take similar measures.
Social media platforms will have to monitor and disable accounts created by under-15s or risk being blocked, a cabinet resolution said, giving them a 12-month transition period.
“The resolution sets the minimum age for social media use at 15 years,” the official WAM news agency said, citing the cabinet resolution.
“Children below this age are prohibited from creating, using, or operating personal accounts on social media platforms.”
After Australia began a world-first social media ban for under-16s in December, a number of countries have followed suit, including Britain, which announced its ban this week.
