Japan Rejects Blanket Social Media Ban for Children in Favor of Risk Management
A working group at Japan’s Internal Affairs Ministry has declined to endorse a blanket age-based ban on social media for children, labeling such a move “not desirable.” The group is instead proposing a framework of risk assessments and default safety settings to protect minors online, according to a draft report released in June.
Proposed Safeguards and Platform Accountability
The Internal Affairs Ministry’s working group suggests shifting the burden of safety onto platform operators. The draft report proposes that social media companies be required to conduct and publish comprehensive risk assessments and detail the specific protection measures they have implemented to mitigate those risks.
To ensure these measures are effective, the group recommends establishing an external mechanism to review platform safeguards. Additionally, the proposal calls for “default-on” protections, meaning the highest privacy and safety settings would be automatically applied to children’s accounts without requiring manual activation by the user or a guardian.
Human Rights Watch Critique of the “Risk Management” Framework
Human Rights Watch has challenged the government’s approach, arguing that the draft report frames its recommendations as risk management tools rather than fundamental protections of children’s rights. The organization asserts that any restrictions on a child’s digital access must be lawful, necessary, and proportionate under international human rights law—a threshold they claim a blanket ban would fail.
The advocacy group urged the working group to ground its final recommendations in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Japan ratified in 1994. Specifically, Human Rights Watch pointed to the Committee on the Rights of the Child’s General Comment No. 25, which provides guidance on children’s rights within the digital environment.
Data Privacy Gaps in Educational Technology
Beyond social media, concerns have surfaced regarding the collection of children’s data through educational tools. Human Rights Watch research into educational technology products—including those recommended by Japan’s Education Ministry—found that a vast majority of these applications secretly surveilled children and transmitted their data to third parties for the purpose of behavioral advertising.
Because digital technologies evolve rapidly, the organization argues that technical fixes are insufficient. They have called on the Japanese government to either amend the existing Act on the Protection of Personal Information or enact a dedicated child data protection law. Such legislation would need to include strict enforcement mechanisms and dedicated resources to be effective.
Proposed Restrictions on Algorithmic Design
As part of a broader push for stronger data protection, advocates are calling for legislation that mandates the disabling of specific persuasive design features for minors. These include:
- Recommendation algorithms that drive compulsive usage.
- Infinite scroll features that remove natural stopping points.
- Push notifications designed to maximize engagement.
Advocates suggest that strengthening these data protections would also reduce the human rights risks associated with age verification processes, which often require the collection and processing of sensitive personal identification data.
The Internal Affairs Ministry’s working group has yet to finalize its report.
