UAE’s Restrictions on Children’s Access to Social Media: What Social Media Platforms Should Know

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has issued Cabinet Resolution No. 106 of 2026 Regarding the Regulation of Children’s Access to Social Media Platforms (the Resolution), which prohibits children under 15 from creating, using, or operating personal accounts on social media platforms. The Resolution implements Federal Decree-Law No. 26 of 2025 on Child Digital Safety (the CDS Federal Law), which took effect on January 1, 2026, and established an extraterritorial child digital safety framework applying to digital platforms and internet service providers that operate in, or target users in, the UAE, with obligations covering age verification, privacy settings, parental controls, content filtering, and the processing of children’s personal data (see this Latham article). Issued on June 17, 2026, and effective from June 30, 2026, the Resolution grants platforms a 12-month transitional period to comply, adding a concrete, sector-specific layer to the UAE’s broader child digital safety framework.

Key Takeaways

At a high level, the Resolution:

• applies to all social media platforms (including those operating worldwide), whether free or paid. The Resolution covers any platform available in, or directed at, the UAE.
• establishes age-gating rules. Children under 15 may not create, use, or operate personal accounts, even with parent or caregiver consent. Children aged 15 to under 16 may hold accounts only with mandatory restrictions and enhanced digital protections.
• sets out permitted age-verification mechanisms. The Resolution requires mechanisms beyond self-declaration, including digital government identity, official document scanning with biometric matching, and AI-based age estimation.
• imposes a range of obligations on social media platforms, including detecting and suspending underage accounts, adopting anti-circumvention measures, restricting behavioral advertising, and submitting periodic compliance reports.
• assigns enforcement to the National Media Authority (NMA) and the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA), with the Child Digital Safety Council responsible for risk assessment, coordination, and the issuance of implementing standards and guidance.

Scope

The Resolution applies to all social media platforms, defined as platforms that enable users to create public or semi-public accounts or profiles, facilitate social interaction, publish or disseminate content, or rely on algorithmic or automated technologies to display, rank, or recommend content.

This definition covers any social media platform available in or targeting the UAE, including both free and paid services, irrespective of the provider’s place of establishment, business model, distribution method, or technical infrastructure.

Minimum Age and Tiered Restrictions

The Resolution establishes a two-tier, age-based regime:

• Under 15, no personal accounts. Children under 15 may not create, use, or operate any personal account on a covered platform. Platforms must prevent these children from creating accounts or accessing full platform features, including social interaction, posting, commenting, sharing content, joining public groups or open channels, or participating in large-scale interactive spaces.
• 15 to under 16, restricted access. Children aged 15 to under 16 may access platforms, provided their accounts carry special restrictions ensuring enhanced digital protection. Platforms must:
  • apply effective mechanisms to classify and restrict categories of content that may be viewed or shared, including harmful content and content unsuitable for the relevant age group, consistent with the TDRA’s prohibited-content framework and any age-based content standards issued under the Resolution;
  • limit public sharing functions and interaction with users who are unknown to the child and their caregiver;
  • provide technical tools to regulate or specify the periods during which access is permitted, and to determine or restrict daily or nighttime usage durations;
  • offer clear and user-friendly parental control tools that enable the caregiver to supervise the settings of the child’s personal account, manage privacy levels, and restrict access to certain features;
  • restrict or disable features or functionalities that, by their nature, involve elevated risks — including unrestricted private messaging, open live streaming, intensive algorithmic recommendation systems, or any other high-risk features for this age group — or provide protection tools and safe-design measures to mitigate such risks; and
  • adopt any further measures the platform deems necessary, in coordination with the relevant authorities, to achieve an appropriate level of protection for children.

Caregiver or third-party consent does not override these prohibitions or restrictions for either age tier. A caregiver may, however, adjust the settings of accounts held by children aged 15 to under 16 through the platform’s parental control tools, provided the adjustment does not conflict with the Resolution’s prohibitions and restrictions.

Age Verification

Platforms must implement effective and reliable age-verification mechanisms that satisfy prescribed standards; self-declaration of age is not sufficient. Each mechanism must:

• achieve a high level of accuracy in determining or estimating the user’s age, so as to minimize the likelihood of circumvention or material error;
• limit data collection and processing to what is strictly necessary for age verification; comply with data minimization, purpose limitation, and processing security principles; and not retain biometric data or official documents beyond what is needed to complete verification, in each case in accordance with applicable data privacy legislation;
• not result in unjustified discrimination against, or technical exclusion of, categories of users;
• be capable of integration with approved national age-verification systems upon request;
• be capable of review and audit by the TDRA;
• be explained to users through clear and comprehensible information regarding the mechanism and its operation; and
• satisfy any further provisions (including privacy and data protection) and standards under the CDS Federal Law, including those approved by the Child Digital Safety Council.

Provided the mechanisms satisfy the above age-verification standards, platforms may adopt one or more of the following:

• Verification through a digital government identity, scanning of an official identity document, or any official document accompanied by biometric matching
• Age-estimation technologies utilizing artificial intelligence, including biometric means
• Approved and licensed age-verification service providers within the UAE
• Any other mechanisms approved by the Child Digital Safety Council

Platform Obligations

Covered platforms must:

• implement approved and effective age-verification mechanisms.
• detect accounts created by children below the prescribed age in contravention of the Resolution and immediately suspend or disable them.
• adopt reasonable and appropriate technical and organizational measures to prevent circumvention and ensure ongoing compliance.
• refrain from targeting children with advertising based on tracking or behavioral profiling, and from processing their personal data for commercial purposes based on their digital activity. This prohibition does not extend to algorithmic processing necessary for children’s digital safety, preventing exposure to harmful or age-inappropriate content, or delivering general contextual advertising that does not rely on profiling.
• design and integrate digital awareness tools and materials into platform interfaces for children and their caregivers, promoting safe and responsible use.
• conduct periodic assessments of digital safety risks relating to children.
• provide periodic reports to the relevant authorities on the measures taken and the extent to which the Resolution’s controls and obligations have been implemented.
• comply with any other obligations stipulated in the CDS Federal Law and its implementing resolutions.

Oversight, Enforcement, and Sanctions

• National Media Authority: Oversees platform compliance with obligations, controls, and standards for digital and media content directed at children
• Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority: Oversees platform compliance with technical obligations, controls, and standards
• Child Digital Safety Council: Assesses risks and impacts of children’s access to social media platforms, proposes measures to address them, and coordinates with federal and local authorities to ensure effective implementation. The Council may also issue guidance, standards, and technical or regulatory requirements to implement the Resolution.

If the TDRA or NMA establishes a violation, it may impose measures within its competence, including warnings, closure, partial or total blocking of a platform, or other administrative penalties, including fines, prescribed under the CDS Federal Law. Both authorities must submit periodic compliance reports to the Child Digital Safety Council, covering enforcement measures and penalties imposed.

The Resolution does not detail specific mechanisms for enforcing compliance against platforms that do not have a physical presence in the UAE. However, the broad service blocking powers available to the TDRA and NMA — including partial or total — provide a practical lever for extraterritorial enforcement. Platforms outside the UAE that fail to comply therefore face the risk of having their services blocked for UAE-based users, in addition to any administrative penalties.

Transitional Period

Platforms have 12 months from the Resolution’s entry into force to comply. The clock begins to run from June 30, 2026, making the deadline June 30, 2027. During this window, the TDRA may coordinate directly with companies operating covered platforms to support their readiness for the technical and regulatory requirements.

Next Steps for Platforms

Companies with services available in or directed at the UAE should consider the following steps:

1. Assess jurisdictional reach and characterization: Determine whether services are made available within the UAE or directed at users therein. 
2. Map product surfaces: Identify and document all features and services accessible to minors to assess compliance needs.
3. Plan for the existing user base: Build a remediation path for accounts already held by UAE users under 15.
4. Set up compliant age verification: Deploy an approved mechanism that does not rely on self-declaration, ensure it is capable of integration with approved national age-verification systems upon request, and build in the documentation and access needed for the mechanism to be reviewed and audited by the TDRA. 
5. Reconfigure privacy and parental controls: Build the tiered restrictions required for the 15-to-under-16 group and ensure robust parental-control tools covering account settings, privacy levels, and feature access.
6. Rework advertising and personalization for minors: Eliminate tracking- and profiling-based advertising directed at children.
7. Calendar the deadline and monitor guidance: Track the 12-month transition period and forthcoming standards and guidance from the Child Digital Safety Council. 

Comparative Context

The Resolution positions the UAE alongside a growing number of jurisdictions tightening children’s access to social media. For example, the EU’s Digital Services Act requires platforms to implement age-appropriate design and prohibits profiling-based advertising directed at minors. 

The UAE’s approach is notable for its prescriptive age-verification requirements, which expressly exclude self-declaration, and for its tiered regime distinguishing between under-15 and 15-to-under-16 users, an age-banding model not widely replicated elsewhere.

What to Watch

The Resolution delegates several operational details to future standards and guidance, including standards for screen time and usage duration, requirements for safe design and high-risk features, and the detailed list of administrative penalties. The Resolution also contains open-ended provisions allowing the Child Digital Safety Council to approve further age-verification standards and the CDS Federal Law to impose additional platform obligations; the compliance perimeter may therefore expand during the transitional period. Platforms should monitor the UAE Children’s Digital Safety Portal, the TDRA, and the NMA for implementing measures as they are finalized.