In June 2026, the UAE Cabinet issued Resolution No. 106 of 2026 on the Regulation of Children’s Access to Social Media Platforms. The resolution sets 15 as the minimum age for using social media in the country and builds a wider set of rules around how platforms handle younger users. It moves child online safety from a matter of guidance and parental discretion into binding national law.
This article sets out the main features of the resolution, places it in the context of similar measures abroad, and identifies the points that businesses, platforms and families will need to weigh.
Who and what the resolution covers
The rules reach any platform that lets users create public or semi-public profiles, interact socially, publish or share content, or rank and recommend content through automated systems. They apply whether the service is free or paid, and they do not depend on where the operator is based or how the service is built. A platform falls within scope if its services are available in the UAE or directed at users in the country.
Under 15, and the 15-to-16 bracket
The resolution draws a clear line at 15. Children below that age may not create, use or operate personal social media accounts. Parental consent does not change this, and a self-declared date of birth is not accepted as proof of age. Where a platform identifies an account belonging to a child under the age of 15, it is required to promptly suspend or disable that account.
Children who have turned 15 but not yet 16 sit in a separate category. They may use social media, but only with added protections suited to their age. Platforms must classify and limit the content this group can see or share, reduce public sharing and contact with unknown users, and offer tools that control when and for how long a child can be online, including limits on night-time use. High-risk features such as open private messaging, live streaming and aggressive recommendation systems must be restricted, disabled or paired with safeguards.
Caregivers can adjust the settings of a 15-year-old’s account through parental control tools, but they cannot use those tools to switch off the protections the law requires.
What platforms have to do
Beyond age verification, the resolution imposes a series of continuing obligations on social media companies. They must run approved age verification systems, detect and remove underage accounts, and prevent users from working around the rules. They are also required to provide awareness materials, carry out regular child-safety risk assessments, and report to the authorities.
In terms of advertising, the Resolution makes a clear distinction between behavioral advertising and contextual advertising. Platforms are prohibited from targeting children with advertisements based on tracking, behavioral profiling or the commercial exploitation of personal data obtained by monitoring their digital activity. However, the ban is not absolute. The Resolution explicitly permits algorithmic processing that is necessary for the purpose of protecting children’s digital safety or in order to prevent them from being exposed to harmful or age-inappropriate content. It also explicitly permits contextual advertising, as long as it does not involve profiling, tracking or other intrusive uses of personal data. The distinction is between advertising based on tracked behavior or inferred characteristics of a child which is prohibited, and advertising based solely on the content viewed at that time which remains permissible.
The Resolution recognizes several methods of age verification, including digital government identity systems, official identity documents, document verification combined with biometric matching, AI-based age estimation technologies, and verification services provided by licensed UAE entities. At the same time, it requires platforms to limit data collection to what is necessary for the verification process and prohibits the retention of biometric data or identity documents beyond the period required to complete that process.
Responsibilities of parents and caregivers
The law does not place responsibility solely on platforms. Caregivers are prohibited from assisting a child in creating or operating an account in violation of the applicable requirements, including by providing false information or circumventing age-verification measures. They are also expected to supervise a child’s online activity, take reasonable steps to protect the child from exploitation, and promote awareness of the risks associated with the digital environment.
Oversight, penalties and timing
The National Media Authority oversees obligations tied to media and content, while the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority handles the technical requirements. Both report to the Child Digital Safety Council.
Where a platform fails to comply, regulators can issue warnings, block a service in part or in full, order closure, or apply other administrative penalties under the Child Digital Safety Law. The resolution requires both authorities to follow the principle of graduality, meaning measures escalate in step with the violation rather than starting with a block or closure.
The resolution enters into force the day after it is published in the Official Gazette. The 12-month transitional period for platforms to bring their systems into line runs from that date.
What about child influencers?
The resolution does not single out child influencers, but its effect on them is direct: because anyone under 15 is barred from creating or operating a personal account, a child below that age cannot run a monetized account in their own right. The resolution also stops platforms from processing children’s personal data for commercial purposes based on tracking their activity.
A second regime governs the commercial side. Since 1 February 2026, anyone publishing promotional content from within the UAE must hold an Advertiser Permit under Federal Decree-Law No. 55 of 2023, administered by the National Media Authority. The general minimum age is 18, with a limited exception for those aged 15 and above: the activity must be commercial and age-appropriate, the minor must not promote products harmful to children, and a guardian must apply on the child’s behalf and accept responsibility for compliance with the Wadeema Child Rights Law. Minors producing educational, cultural, sports or awareness content are generally exempt.
A connected question is the parent-operated account, where a child features in commercial content but an adult creates and runs it. On a plain reading of Article 3, such an account does not sit squarely within the prohibition, since it is not the child’s own personal account. The wider Child Digital Safety Law speaks to the parent’s side directly: it requires caregivers not to create age-inappropriate accounts for children in their care, and, in Article 13, not to showcase or negatively exploit those children on digital platforms in a way that threatens their privacy, dignity, or psychological and social well-being. How those duties apply to a monetized, parent-run account remains to be tested, and the Child Digital Safety Council has power to issue further guidance.
Several jurisdictions have introduced rules aimed specifically at child influencers. France has, since 2020, treated child influencers under 16 much as it treats child performers, with limits on working hours, earnings held in trust until adulthood, and official permission to film children for sponsored content. The European Parliament, in a non-binding report adopted in November 2025, called for an EU-wide approach that would stop platforms from financially rewarding “kidfluencing.” The Netherlands has proposed to fine parents who profit from monetized content featuring under-16s. In the United States, several states, including Illinois, California and Utah, require part of a child’s online earnings to be set aside for them.
The wider international picture
The UAE is part of a broader move by governments to set age limits on social media. Australia went first, requiring platforms to keep users under 16 off their services from December 2025, with fines reaching tens of millions of dollars for systemic failures. Several European states have followed with their own proposals: Denmark and France have advanced measures aimed at under-15s, while Spain and others have signalled limits at 16. Brazil now requires younger users to link accounts to a guardian, and the United Kingdom has said it is studying an Australia-style approach.
Main considerations
Several points will shape how the resolution works in practice. Age verification can be carried out through a range of methods, each with trade-offs between accuracy, cost and intrusiveness, and the resolution allows several techniques rather than mandating one. These checks intersect with privacy, since stronger verification can involve collecting more sensitive data, including biometrics, which the resolution addresses through data minimization and retention limits that platforms must meet. The rules apply to any service directed at UAE users regardless of where it is based, so foreign platforms fall within scope and will need to assess their exposure and adjust their systems. Penalties fall on platforms rather than on children or parents, placing the compliance obligation on operators, who are also required to take active steps against circumvention through shared devices, borrowed accounts and similar workarounds.
For platforms operating in, or serving users in, the UAE, the 12-month transition period should be used to review age-verification systems, account-detection procedures, advertising practices, and data-handling processes against the new requirements.
The transition period allows families time to learn the new framework, and to strengthen digital protections and make sure they are compliant before the requirements become compulsory.