- Japan’s communications ministry has proposed tighter age limits on social media
- Unlike Australia’s under-16s ban, the draft measures do not propose a single age limit or total ban for those under a certain age
- The report is expected to be finalized in summer 2026, with the potential for amendments later on
Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication has proposed that the country adopt stricter age restrictions for social media users.
The proposal is part of a new draft set of measures designed to combat social media addiction 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 blanket ban on social media usage, 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 carriers to find age verification solutions. The Japan Times reports that the measures suggest collaborating on “methods of age verification based on feasible technologies and systems.”
This makes Japan something of 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 communications ministry has said that adopting a blanket age restriction would be difficult due to the differences between each social media platform, and the widespread use of social media as a form of communication.
If the draft 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 on more responsibility when it comes to age verification.
As The Asahi Shimbun reports, social media companies would, under the new proposals, be mandated by law to assess their own services and platforms for risks, and implement more stringent identity checks.
Currently, social media age verification in Japan generally relies on self-reported information, which is easier to get around 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 stronger age verification for social media.
The proposal has some way to go before being adopted into law – it will first enter a public comment period before being finalized in summer 2026, after which point other ministries will be able to offer counterpoints, amendments, and additions.
As Kyodo News reports, Japan’s existing social media controls are mostly limited to mobile carriers filtering harmful websites, as well as parental monitoring.
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 under-16s, while France, Greece, and Denmark have all announced blanket age limits with varying timeframes for compliance.
And at the end of May, digital ministers from G7 countries met to agree on a set of common principles for online child safety (via UNICEF).
There’s been comparatively little from the US when it comes to the prospect of limiting social media, though a Los Angeles court found in March 2026 that Google and Meta had intentionally built addictive platforms in what many viewed 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 the national level. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in May 2026 that he would take “decisive” action against social media’s impact on children, though he did not comment on what this would look like.
However, getting bans or age restrictions in place is only the first step – the real challenge is likely to be enforcement.
VPNs can be used to change the perceived location of a device, and therefore could be used to attempt circumventing a local social media ban.
Australia tackled this issue head-on by requiring social media platforms to block underaged VPN users. Japan appears to be taking a milder approach, perhaps in response to concerns that banning young people from social platforms outright could have negative consequences.
Calls for social media bans and age limits have been met with mixed reactions across the globe.
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 Gen Z in Japan support banning social media for under-16s.
That’s low compared to other countries – the same report found that 77% of parents in Malaysia and 73% of Gen Z in India supported an under-16s ban, while other ‘Western’ countries saw lower levels of support.
It’s not yet clear whether social media restrictions are effective in improving young peoples’ wellbeing. In 2024, Amnesty International called on Australian lawmakers to regulate, rather than restrict, social media for young people, suggesting that outright bans wouldn’t keep children as safe as good regulation. And April 2026 research from the Molly Rose foundation suggests that 60% of Australian children are still managing to access social media post-ban.
With support in Japan relatively low, the milder proposed measures could either be an effort to avoid backlash or a response to the successes and limitations of other countries’ initiatives.
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jamie.richards@futurenet.com (Jamie Richards)
