Widespread underage Facebook use flagged
Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian has expressed serious concerns regarding the significant number of underage Filipino users on Facebook, despite the platform's minimum age requirement of 13 years. Recent data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reveals alarming statistics: a substantial percentage of children below this age are actively engaging on social media. For instance, 87.64% of 12-year-olds and 80.76% of 11-year-olds have social media accounts, highlighting a trend of early exposure to digital platforms. During a Senate Committee on Basic Education hearing, Gatchalian emphasized the potential risks that such early and unsupervised access to technology poses to children. While acknowledging the benefits of digital technology for education and communication, he pointed out that unregulated use can lead to harmful experiences, including exposure to inappropriate content, cyberbullying, and privacy concerns. In response to these issues, Gatchalian has proposed legislative measures aimed at enhancing child protection in the digital realm. His initiatives include the Social Media Safety for Children Act, which seeks to restrict social media access for those under 16, and the Electronic Gadget-Free Schools Act, designed to limit distractions in classrooms. These proposals aim to foster a safer and more focused learning environment for students.
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