Kazakhstan also wants to ban social networks for children

The Ministry of Culture and Information of Kazakhstan has developed a draft law prohibiting children and adolescents under the age of 16 from accessing social networks. This was announced by the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and Information of Kazakhstan, Aida Balayeva, at a meeting of government officials.

The initiative was evaluated by experts and submitted for public discussion. To implement this, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development of Kazakhstan will develop mechanisms for determining the age of users, as well as liability measures if necessary.

"The main focus will be on improving the media literacy of the population and supporting independent media. Relevant work in this direction is being carried out through the Commission for the Development of Journalism and other mechanisms.

In addition, the possibility of streamlining the distribution of advertising revenue between the online platform and the media, as well as the partial abolition of certain restrictions on advertising certain goods, will be considered at the legislative level," says Aida Balayeva.

In recent years, a number of countries have introduced new rules that completely prohibit children from using social networks and strictly control the use of social networks by adolescents.

In particular, the South Korean parliament passed a new law prohibiting the use of mobile phones and smart devices during lessons. South Korea is not the first country to make such a decision - France, Finland, Italy, and China are also restricting the use of phones in schools. In this regard, Seoul differs only in raising the issue to the level of law.

Earlier, in a number of countries, such as New Zealand, the Netherlands, Australia, Norway, Russia, and Italy, efforts have begun to ban social networks for children, including in neighboring Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, a legal ban on the use of smartphones by schoolchildren during lessons has been introduced, and the parliament of Tajikistan proposes to completely ban the use of social networks for children under 14 years of age, and to strictly control the use of social networks by adolescents.

Australia was the first country in the world to officially prohibit children under 16 from using social networks. These restrictions officially came into force on December 10, 2025. In Sweden, they banned digital devices for children under six years old and started moving back from tablets to books.