- Japan’s Communications Ministry has proposed stricter age limits on social media
- Unlike Australia’s ban on under-16s, the draft measures do not propose a single age limit or an outright ban on those under a certain age.
- The report is expected to be finalized in the summer of 2026, with the possibility of modifications later.
Japan’s Ministry of the Interior and Communication has proposed that the country adopt stricter age restrictions for social media users.
The proposal is part of a new project of measures designed to combat addiction to social networks in children and young people.
The measures were announced on June 2 by a panel of experts convened by the Ministry and, notably, do not suggest a complete 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 operators to find age verification solutions. The Japan Times reports that the measures suggest collaborating on “age verification methods based on viable technologies and systems.”
This makes Japan an outlier in the growing group of countries considering social media restrictions. The trend follows Australia’s ban on social media for under-16s, which, as TechRadar reported at the time, came into effect in December 2025.
Japan’s Ministry of Communications has said that adopting a blanket age restriction would be difficult due to differences between each social media platform and the widespread use of social media as a form of communication.
If preliminary 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 when it comes to age verification.
As The Asahi Shimbun reports, social media companies, under the new proposals, would be legally mandated to evaluate their own services and platforms for risks and implement stricter identity checks.
Currently, age verification on social media in Japan generally relies on self-reported information, which is easier to circumvent 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 more robust age verification for social networks.
The proposal has a long way to go before being adopted into law: it will first enter a public comment period before being finalized in the summer of 2026, after which other ministries will be able to offer counterpoints, amendments and additions.
As Kyodo News reports, existing social media controls in Japan are mainly limited to mobile operators filtering out harmful websites, as well as parental supervision.
As mentioned, Japan is far from the first country to see government officials or elected lawmakers propose stricter controls on social media.
Australia, Malaysia and Indonesia have implemented social media bans for those under 16, while France, Greece and Denmark have announced blanket age limits with varying deadlines for compliance.
And at the end of May, digital ministers from G7 countries met to agree on a set of common principles for child online safety (via UNICEF).
There has been comparatively little from the US when it comes to the prospect of limiting social media, although a Los Angeles court found in March 2026 that Google and Meta had intentionally built addictive platforms in what many saw as a landmark case (via BBC News).
In the UK, however, the concept of a social media ban for under-16s has taken hold at a national level. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in May 2026 that he would take “decisive” action against the impact of social media on children, although he did not comment on what this would look like.
However, implementing bans or age restrictions is only the first step; the real challenge is probably its application.
VPNs can be used to change the perceived location of a device and could therefore be used to try to bypass a local social media ban.
Australia 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 to ban social media and set age limits have generated mixed reactions around the world.
A report by 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.
That’s low compared to other countries: the same report found that 77% of parents in Malaysia and 73% of Generation Z in India supported a ban on under-16s, while other “Western” countries saw 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 for young people, suggesting outright bans would not keep children as safe as good regulation. And April 2026 research from the Molly Rose Foundation suggests 60% of Australian children still manage to access social media after the ban.
Given that support in Japan is relatively low, the softer proposed measures could be an effort to avoid backlash or a response to the successes and limitations of other countries’ initiatives.
