March 17, 2026
TOKYO – As an increasing number of countries move to regulate children’s use of social media, Japan has convened an expert panel at the Children and Families Agency and started discussing the issue. While there remains strong opposition to blanket age-based restrictions, the risks of addiction and crime are becoming increasingly clear.
Some experts are calling for urgent action to impose some form of regulation on social media providers.
The agency established the panel in January with the aim of examining internet use among youth and began discussing how to regulate children’s use of social media, drawing on examples from other countries. At the second meeting held in late February, panel members exchanged opinions regarding harmful content.
“The law should stipulate that features that allow users to scroll endlessly through social media are harmful,” a member said at the meeting.
The Law on Establishment of Enhanced Environment for Youth’s Safe and Secure Internet Use stipulates measures such as the use of “filtering” to restrict access to harmful websites. However, filtering is not necessarily effective for social media.
Under the law, social media providers are only required to make “best efforts” to prevent minors from viewing harmful content. The panel’s primary focus is on exploring new measures in light of these challenges.
Blanket restrictions oppose
While calls for age restrictions have emerged in discussions so far, there have also been cautious opinions regarding blanket restrictions. Children could create accounts by falsifying their ages.
Moving forward, the government will report the results of hearings with junior high and high school students and look into feasible age verification methods. It will compile a report this summer.
Although the government is considering amending the law during fiscal 2027 to strengthen measures, it remains reluctant to impose blanket age restrictions.
A report published last summer by another working group in the agency showed a similar direction. Rather than imposing a blanket age restriction through legislation, the report called on social media operators to implement measures such as providing services tailored to children’s developmental stages and strengthening digital literacy education.
Many stakeholders also recognize the value of social media as a safe space for children facing difficult circumstances, such as school refusal. There are also concerns that blanket age restrictions could infringe upon the “freedom of expression” and “right to know” guaranteed by the Constitution.
“Blanket restrictions could deprive children of their right and opportunity to obtain and select information,” a senior official at the agency said.
‘5 hours a day’
Social media has been criticized for fostering dependency due to features such as algorithms that continuously stream posts and videos tailored to users’ preferences.
A survey on social media addiction conducted last year by the National Hospital Organization Kurihama Medical and Addiction Center in Kanagawa Prefecture found that 6% of people between age 10-29 were suspected of having a “pathological use” of social media.
A 13-year-old junior high school girl in Saitama Prefecture got a smartphone last year and began spending about five hours a day on social media. She said that she was unable to stick to the usage limits agreed upon with her parents.
“I couldn’t stop. Once I hid under the covers and stayed up until 1:30 a.m. looking at it,” she said.
She has even gone alone to meet people she met on social media, and her mother, 44, expressed growing concern.
“She’s on social media whenever she has a spare moment, and I feel it’s dangerous that she can so easily connect with complete strangers,” she said.
According to the National Police Agency, 1,566 children were victims of crimes triggered by social media last year, with 167 of them being elementary school students — a nearly fivefold increase over the past 10 years.
“In Japan, we are relying solely on self-regulation by social media companies. We are not adequately protecting children from the risks of social media,” said Eijiro Mizutani, an associate professor of media law at Keio University who is well versed in social media regulations around the world.
“The government needs to urgently implement measures with an eye toward establishing laws to ensure that social media companies take concrete steps to protect children.”
AloJapan.com