What it means for 3.5 million Indians in the country
4 min readDelhiJun 18, 2026 07:13 PM IST The United Arab Emirates Cabinet has approved a resolution banning children under the age of 15 from creating or using personal accounts on social media platforms, with parental or caregiver consent explicitly rejected as a valid exemption, Khaleej Times reported on Thursday. The resolution, chaired by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, builds on Federal Decree-Law No. 26 of 2025 on Child Digital Safety, which entered into force on January 1, 2026. Children aged 15 to 16 will be permitted to use social media platforms only with enhanced protective measures applied to their accounts, including age-appropriate content classification, restricted high-risk features, regulated usage time, and parental control tools, while a separate provision restricts the collection of personal data of children under 13 without verifiable parental consent. Platforms have until December 31, 2026, to comply with the new requirements, with the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) overseeing enforcement. What changes for families The resolution goes …

