Singapore to legislate stronger safeguards, possible daily time limit for teens on social media

Mrs Teo said there is no “magic number” but called the arrangement a useful reference point. “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.”

THREE HOURS “A BIT TOO LONG”

An expert panel convened by the Ministry of Health to study social media’s impact on youth mental health found that one in three users aged 15 to 17 already spend more than three hours a day on social media, Mrs Teo noted. 

The panel also found that one in six users aged 10 to 24 show signs of problematic social media use.

“What it does suggest is that three hours is a bit too long. It ought to be less than that,” she said.

Whatever figure Singapore settles on will not satisfy everyone, she added. “The daily time limit really is a reminder that we should get on with other aspects of our life.” 

Beyond the newly operational Online Safety Commission, which began work in June, engagement on other aspects of online safety has been ongoing. Mrs Teo said platforms have known about the age assurance measures “for a long time”, and about the stronger safeguards for nine to 12 months.

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced in his National Day Rally speech in August that Singapore would require platforms to introduce stronger safeguards for young users. 

While most platforms already set a minimum age of 13, enforcement is largely left to them, he noted, calling self-declaration “just not good enough” and pushing for more robust checks to properly enforce the minimum age.

CHECKING A USER’S AGE

Singapore already requires app stores to implement age assurance measures, Mrs Teo said. 

This is done through one of three broad methods – age estimation, which uses information a platform has about a user to estimate their age; age inference, which uses similar information to conclude an age range; and age verification, which checks a user’s age against official records.

When age assurance was made mandatory for app stores, operators were asked to propose their own methods, which were approved if they appeared “reasonably robust”. 

The government intends to take a similar approach with social media platforms.

“When it comes to being able to properly ascertain a user’s age, some steps are needed. If you don’t have a certain expectation of accuracy, then the methods of arriving at an estimation or an inference of the person’s age, these could lead to a lot of errors,” Mrs Teo said. 

This means a single attempt to confirm a user’s age may not be enough, she added. If a platform later gets signals suggesting a user is younger than it thought, it might need to reconfirm their age, meaning some inconvenience for users.

“If we want the platforms to be able to properly assess the occasions where they have a child user, then the rest of us have to support that these methods are implemented, and so we have some mental preparation that it may cause the rest of us some inconvenience.”

She also acknowledged concerns over whether platforms can safeguard the user data collected for age assurance, saying the government will require that data be collected “in a proportionate manner” – enough to implement good safeguards, but robust enough to ensure accuracy.

Asked how teens have reacted, Mrs Teo said engagements suggest they accept the need for stronger safeguards but would rather not be shut out of social media entirely.

“Generally speaking, the feedback we have received is that teens understand why the safeguards are useful, and that they also support the idea of tiered access,” said Mrs Teo, adding that teens were also concerned about users even younger than themselves.