A senior lawmaker is urging the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) to include a proposed measure regulating children’s access to social media platforms among the administration’s priority legislation, citing the need to strengthen safeguards for minors amid renewed concerns over online and school-related violence.
Senator Joel Villanueva, who proposed Senate Bill No. 2071, or the “Safe Media Access and Responsible Technology for Kids in Digital Spaces (SMART KIDS) Act,” should be considered alongside existing priority bills addressing online sexual abuse and exploitation of children.
The appeal comes in the aftermath of the June 22 shooting inside San Jose National High School in Tacloban City, where two minors allegedly opened fire, killing three students and injuring several others. Authorities have since said they are examining multiple angles, including possible exposure to harmful online content and other behavioral triggers.
Villanueva said the proposed SMART KIDS Act targets a separate but related concern: the growing exposure of young users to unregulated digital environments.
Under the bill, children below 15 years old would be prohibited from creating or maintaining accounts on covered social media and digital platforms, with enforcement placed on platform operators rather than minors.
“This bill is anchored on a simple but vital principle: those who shape the digital environment must also be responsible for making it safe,” Villanueva said.
The senator noted that modern platform architecture—including algorithm-driven feeds, infinite scrolling, and auto-play functions—has increased the risk of prolonged exposure and dependency among young users.
He added that the measure is designed to avoid penalizing children, focusing instead on holding technology companies accountable for safety standards and platform design.
The proposal covers social networking services, content-sharing platforms, messaging applications with social features, and other services relying on algorithmic recommendation systems. Operators would be required to implement age-assurance systems, content moderation tools, and safety-by-design mechanisms, as well as conduct regular risk assessments.
Platforms would also be mandated to submit annual transparency reports to the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT). The bill explicitly prohibits intrusive identity verification methods, such as mandatory submission of government-issued IDs or the creation of centralized identity databases, citing privacy concerns.
Penalties for violations range from P1 million to P20 million in administrative fines, with repeat or gross negligence cases punishable by up to P50 million and possible suspension of operations. The bill also provides that no liability shall attach to minors found using the platforms.
In addition, the measure requires schools to designate an Online Safety Coordinator from existing personnel to address digital safety concerns without creating new plantilla positions.
The push for the legislation comes as investigators continue to probe the Tacloban school shooting, with authorities also examining reports linking one of the suspects’ online activity to violent digital content and prior allegations of bullying as possible contributing factors.