- Japan’s Ministry of Communications has proposed stricter age limits on social media
- Unlike Australia’s under-16 ban, the draft measures do not propose a single age limit or a total ban on those under a certain age.
- The report is expected to be finalized in summer 2026, with the possibility of being amended later.
Japan’s Ministry of the Interior and Communications has proposed that the country adopt stricter age restrictions for social media users.
The proposal is part of a new draft of measures aimed at tackling social media addiction among children and young people.
The measures were announced on June 2 by a group of experts convened by the ministry and notably do not suggest a general ban on the use of social media, or even a single age limit for all social media platforms.
Instead, the committee’s draft measures suggest that the Japanese government work with stakeholders such as social media platforms and mobile carriers to find age verification solutions. The Japan Times reports that the measures suggest collaborating on “age verification methods based on feasible technologies and systems.”
This makes Japan an exception in the growing group of countries considering restrictions on social media. This trend follows Australia’s social media ban for under-16s, which, as TechRadar reported at the time, came into effect in December 2025.
Japan’s Ministry of Communications said it would be difficult to adopt a general age limit due to differences between each social media platform and the widespread use of social media as a form of communication.
If the draft suggestions are adopted, we could see Japan implement one age limit for TikTok and another for Instagram, for example.
The proposed measures also ask social media service providers to take more responsibility for age verification.
As The Asahi Shimbun reports, social media companies would, under the new proposals, be required by law to assess the risks of their own services and platforms, and implement stricter identity controls.
Currently, age verification on social media in Japan generally relies on self-reported information, which is easier to obtain for those willing to lie about their age.
The committee’s proposal suggests that age data already held by mobile networks could be used to provide deeper age verification on social media.
The proposal still has a way to go before it is passed into law: it will first enter a public comment period before being finalized in the summer of 2026, after which other departments can propose counterpoints, amendments and additions.
As Kyodo News reports, existing controls on social media in Japan are mainly limited to mobile carriers that filter harmful websites, as well as parental monitoring.
As mentioned, Japan is far from the first country to see government officials or elected lawmakers propose tighter controls on social media.
Australia, Malaysia and Indonesia have banned social media for under-16s, while France, Greece and Denmark have all announced blanket age limits with varying compliance deadlines.
And at the end of May, digital ministers from G7 countries came together to agree on a set of common principles for child safety online (via UNICEF).
In the United States, there has been relatively little action regarding the prospect of restricting social media, although a Los Angeles court ruled in March 2026 that Google and Meta had intentionally built addictive platforms in what many considered a landmark case (via BBC News).
In the UK, however, the concept of banning social media for under-16s has taken hold nationally. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in May 2026 that he would take “decisive” action on the impact of social media on children, although he did not comment on what that would look like.
However, implementing bans or age restrictions is only the first step – the real challenge will likely be enforcing them.
VPNs can be used to change the perceived location of a device and could therefore be used to attempt to circumvent a local ban on social media.
Australia has addressed this issue head on by requiring social media platforms to block underage VPN users. Japan appears to be taking a softer approach, perhaps in response to concerns that outright banning young people from social platforms could have negative consequences.
Calls for social media bans and age restrictions have drawn mixed reactions across the world.
A report from Family First (via Global Teacher Prize) published before the announcement of the new draft measures found that 38% of parents and 28% of Generation Z in Japan support banning social media for those under 16.
This is low compared to other countries: the same report found that 77% of parents in Malaysia and 73% of Gen Z in India supported a ban on under-16s, while other “Western” countries recorded lower levels of support.
It is not yet clear whether restrictions on social media are effective in improving the well-being of young people. In 2024, Amnesty International called on Australian lawmakers to regulate rather than restrict social media aimed at young people, suggesting that outright bans would not ensure the same safety for children as good regulation. And an April 2026 study from the Molly Rose Foundation suggests 60% of Australian children still manage to access social media after the ban.
With support for Japan relatively weak, the proposed softer measures could either be an effort to avoid backlash or a response to the successes and limitations of other countries’ initiatives.
