Egypt has introduced new binding requirements for social media platforms aimed at protecting children under the age of 15, with the country’s Supreme Council for Media Regulation (SCMR) and National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) jointly setting out the framework.
The rules establish two age categories. Platforms will be prohibited from creating or maintaining independent personal accounts for children under 13. For users aged 13 to under 15, accounts will be permitted, but platforms must automatically activate a safe-use mode that the child cannot disable while they remain within the age bracket.
The requirements extend beyond age checks at registration. Platforms must implement effective and proportionate age-verification mechanisms designed to resist circumvention, while complying with data-protection requirements and limiting the information collected for age verification.
Existing accounts are also covered. Platforms must review accounts that may belong to users under 15 and take steps to regularise those identified through reliable age-assurance methods. They must also provide an appeals and age-correction process for users who have been incorrectly classified.
Platforms will have 30 days from notification of the decision to submit implementation plans and timetables, with full compliance required within three months of the rules coming into force.
SCMR Chairman Khaled Abdel-Aziz said protecting children online is a shared responsibility involving government, families, society and digital platforms. NTRA Chief Executive Mohamed Shamroukh said the framework is based on protections proportionate to a user’s age and level of risk.
The measures specifically address risks including exposure to harmful content, exploitation, bullying, harassment and extortion.
The joint approach is also significant for Africa’s wider digital policy landscape. While age assurance is increasingly being debated internationally, Egypt’s framework brings the media and telecommunications regulators together to impose requirements on platforms, providing another regulatory model for African markets considering how to protect children in increasingly platform-driven media environments.
