President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu stated today that work is being done to implement amendments to the relevant act so that children under the age of 16 can no longer access certain social media applications.

During today's press conference at the President's Office, the President said that one generational ban has been implemented for the protection of the youth and that such steps will be taken in the future as well.

President Muizzu said children have become exposed to the negative aspects of social media. He said cyberbullying and grooming were among those harmful aspects and that the government had decided to take steps to protect children.

"This is what the world has come to. Cyberbullying is very dangerous. Children and toddlers have been exposed to this, with it being an issue across the globe. Online grooming is a very dangerous part of it as well," said the President as he highlighted that certain platforms expose children to dangerous content.

The President went on to say that as Maldives is a nation of Islam and as it is a country with a small population, he believes that protecting the children is a responsibility to be upheld by the government and various agencies.

And so, he said that certain applications will be banned for those under 16 years of age.

"I intend to take steps to make it so that certain social media applications will be banned and unusable for those who are below 16 years of age."

According to the President, Maldives will look to Australia as an example in conducting next steps.

Last year, Australia banned TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X, Reddit and YouTube for those under the age of 16. In order to enforce this, a selfie to ascertain age when opening an account is required, along with an identity card and bank account linking as well.

While tech companies are to make it so that children below 16 years of age cannot access these applications, companies that fail to ensure this will be fined USD 33 million.

And so, the President said that these will be taken into account when implementing application bans for those under 16 years of age.

The President stated that work will be done to bring about the necessary legal amendments and that they will communicate with companies that operate social media applications.

The President said that he hopes the enforcement of these steps will begin within the coming year. 

The President said that taking these steps does not mean that they are stepping away from digitalization and that the government's main policy is Maldives 2.0. The President said that the internet is a very important part of making Maldives a digital society and that he believes getting educational value out of digital platforms is important as well.

The President went on to say that the children would not have any difficulties in such matters but that he believes these steps are important against cyberbullying.