Is YouTube affected? How will they prevent kids from using adult accounts? What effects can we expect on ambient skibidi rizz levels? These questions and more, answered by the experts…

If you’re a parent living in the UAE, you’d have had to be living under a tinfoil rock with your phone locked in Airplane Mode to have missed the groundbreaking social media restrictions heading our way soon.

We’re talking here about the steps the country is taking to protect young minds from the negative impact of social media. A comprehensive ban, announced by the UAE cabinet on June 18 2026, will be placed on all relevant platforms for anyone under the age of 15. And it’s set to come into effect in the next 12 months.

It’s just the latest real-life case study of how seriously the UAE takes its duty of care for its residents, leading the world in proactive social policy.

Why is there a ban? 

The studies are in, and they’re unanimous in their findings. The detrimental effects of communication and media-sharing platforms on developing brains are many and varied. Perhaps the strangest part is that Gen Alpha (those born between 2010 and 2024) seems to know it, too. Their defining meme genre of the past year… ‘brainrot’, has become an eerily self-aware shorthand for the very phenomenon experts have spent years warning about. Or cognitivo declinalino, to put it in contemporary parlance.

Everything UAE parents need to know about the upcoming social media restrictions

But which platforms are covered by the new bans? How will they be enforced? What can we do as parents to support our vulnerable charges? And what can we as adults learn about the effects of these digital behaviours? We put the big questions to some locally based experts, one to cover the legal and administrative minutiae and the other for a psychological impact overview. This is what they had to say…

The psychological perspective according to Dr Rita Figueiredo, Licensed Psychologist and Managing Director at Peninsula Psychology

On why these new rules so important

The conversation about social media often focuses on mental health or screen time, but the bigger picture is child development. Childhood and adolescence are the stages when the brain is trying to answer fundamental questions about identity, belonging and self-worth, making them some of the most challenging stages of development. Social media amplifies that developmental process by turning appearance, popularity and acceptance into something that is constantly measured through likes, views and comments. Previous generations could leave school and recover at home. Today’s adolescents often carry their social world in their pocket, leaving very little opportunity for emotional recovery. A disagreement with friends, exclusion from a group chat or comparison with peers can continue long after the school day has ended. Research also links excessive social media use with poorer sleep, greater emotional distress, body image concerns, cyberbullying and compulsive checking and scrolling. These experiences accumulate during a stage when the brain is still developing emotional regulation, impulse control and critical thinking.

These rules give children more time to build the emotional and cognitive skills they will need before navigating environments designed to capture attention and maximize engagement.

On what other platforms parents should be aware of

Parents naturally want to know which apps are safe, but platforms change much faster than children’s developmental needs. A more helpful approach is to look at the features of an app. Does it encourage endless scrolling? Does it personalise content through algorithms? Can strangers contact my child? Are disappearing messages enabled? Does it reward constant engagement through likes, streaks or notifications? Does it encourage children to perform for an audience or constantly compare themselves with others? These features exist across social media, gaming platforms, messaging apps and video-sharing services. Children also move from one platform to another very quickly, so focusing on individual apps soon becomes outdated.

The most effective boundaries come from understanding how digital environments work. When parents recognise the features that increase vulnerability, they can make informed decisions regardless of which platform becomes popular next.

On what we can do about anxiety in young people

When a child becomes overwhelmed, the first goal is emotional regulation. A distressed brain cannot learn from a lecture. Parents often feel pressure to immediately solve the problem, explain what happened or take the phone away, but children first need help calming their nervous system. That may involve sitting quietly with them, validating their emotions, encouraging slow breathing if it feels helpful, going for a short walk, reducing stimulation or simply reminding them they do not have to face difficult emotions alone. Once emotions settle, children are much better able to reflect, problem-solve and engage in meaningful conversations.

Long-term solutions focus on building resilience. Healthy sleep, regular physical activity, face-to-face friendships, family routines or rituals and opportunities to experience competence outside the digital world all strengthen emotional wellbeing. Open conversations about online experiences are equally important because children are much more likely to ask for help when they know they will be listened to before worrying that their devices will immediately be taken away.

If anxiety becomes persistent, starts affecting school, relationships or daily functioning, or extends beyond social media into other areas of life, support from a psychologist can help children develop lasting emotional regulation skills while addressing the factors maintaining their anxiety.

On a roadmap to a healthy relationship with social media

The preparation begins years before children create their first account. Healthy social media habits are built through everyday experiences that have very little to do with technology.

I often compare it to learning to drive. We do not hand someone car keys simply because they reach a certain birthday. We expect them to develop judgement, self-control, awareness of risk and the confidence to make good decisions. Social media deserves the same mindset.

Children become more prepared when they learn to tolerate frustration, cope with boredom, manage disappointment, recover after mistakes, respect boundaries, understand privacy and talk openly with trusted adults when something feels uncomfortable. These are the developmental skills that make digital environments easier to navigate safely.

At the same time, digital literacy should grow alongside emotional maturity. Children need to understand how algorithms influence what they see, why people curate their online lives, how misinformation spreads and how to recognise manipulative or risky online interactions.

Parental controls can be a valuable part of this process, especially in the early years. They work best when they are framed as protection and guidance, not surveillance. Parents can communicate a simple message: “I’m giving you this device because I trust that, with support and practice, you’ll gradually develop the skills to use it independently.” Shared accounts, regular conversations and clear expectations create opportunities to build both digital literacy and good judgement while allowing independence to grow over time.

Children begin preparing for social media years before they create their first account because developmental readiness begins long before digital access.

On how we prepare children for a world of confusing social norms

Children naturally notice appearance, popularity and social status because belonging is a central part of development. Parents cannot remove those pressures, but they can help children build an identity that is broad enough to tolerate them.

Children become more resilient when they experience themselves as capable in many different areas of life. Sport, music, creativity, volunteering, problem-solving, friendships, family responsibilities and hobbies all contribute to a sense of competence that goes far beyond appearance. Confidence grows through mastery, persistence and meaningful relationships.

Parents also shape children’s relationship with appearance through everyday conversations. The way adults speak about their own bodies, other people’s appearance, aging, success and comparison teaches children what deserves attention and what defines self-worth. Young people are far more likely to internalise what they consistently observe than what they occasionally hear.

Children whose identity extends far beyond appearance become much less vulnerable to unhealthy social comparison. When children know who they are, what they value and where they belong, external validation carries much less weight, whether it comes from social media or from the world around them.

The legal view according to BSA LAW Senior Associate Marina El Hachem

On what the ban will include

The UAE resolution applies broadly to any platform that allows users to create accounts or personal profiles, engage in social interaction, publish or share content, or that relies on algorithmic systems to display, rank, or recommend content, whether free or paid. This functional, feature-based definition means platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, X, and YouTube would all fall within scope, as each enables social interaction and content sharing. This is notably different from the UK’s recently announced ban, which will exempt YouTube Kids and messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal. The UAE resolution does not expressly carve out any specific platform or messaging service; if a platform meets the functional criteria and is available in or directed at users in the UAE, it is covered. It will be important to watch how the relevant authorities interpret and apply this definition in practice during the 12-month implementation period.

Ed note: Bans on YouTube, would presumably be linked to creating accounts (and using them for commenting/communicating) rather than a blanket app/service ban.

On the 12-month timeframe for implementing the ban.

The scale of the task is certainly a factor, platforms must build or integrate reliable age-verification systems, redesign account features for different age groups, deploy parental control tools, and overhaul advertising and data-processing practices. However, the 12-month transitional period is not just about technical readiness, it also allows for coordination between the platforms and the UAE’s competent authorities to ensure regulatory alignment and compliance infrastructure is properly in place. The resolution envisions graduated enforcement, meaning both sides need time to establish monitoring, reporting, and audit mechanisms. In practice, this timeline sends a clear signal: platforms are expected to act promptly but are being given a reasonable window to deliver.

On how will the UAE enforce the new guidelines

Enforcement will sit with two bodies: the National Media Authority and the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority, each operating within its respective jurisdiction. In cases of non-compliance, these authorities have the power to issue warnings, partially or fully block platforms within the UAE, or impose administrative penalties, following a graduated enforcement approach. Platforms themselves are required to monitor and suspend accounts created by under-15s in violation of the rules, implement technical measures to prevent circumvention, refrain from targeting children with personalised advertising, and submit regular compliance reports. The Child Digital Safety Council adds a further layer of oversight, assessing risks and proposing mitigation measures on an ongoing basis.

On how they will prevent children using adult accounts

The resolution tackles this by requiring platforms to move beyond simple self-declaration of age, which is expressly stated to be insufficient. Instead, platforms must deploy effective and reliable age-verification mechanisms, including digital identity verification, AI-supported biometric tools, or other technologies approved by the Child Digital Safety Council, designed to achieve a high level of accuracy. The resolution also places responsibilities on caregivers, who are prohibited from circumventing age-verification mechanisms or enabling a child to use platforms in violation of the rules. While no verification system is foolproof, the combination of platform-side technical measures, caregiver obligations, and ongoing regulatory audits is intended to make it substantially harder for children to simply log in through an adult’s account or misrepresent their age.

On existing accounts of children under the new age limits

The resolution is clear on this point: all social media platforms whose services are available in the UAE or directed at UAE users are required to actively monitor personal accounts created by children under 15 in violation of the resolution and to take immediate action to suspend or disable those accounts. This means existing accounts are affected. Platforms will need to identify underage users (through their new age-verification systems) and remove or restrict their accounts accordingly, even if those accounts were created before the resolution came into effect. The 12-month transitional period gives platforms time to put these mechanisms in place, but the expectation is that by the end of that period, non-compliant accounts will have been dealt with.

On the likelihood of further exclusions

It is very likely. The current Cabinet resolution specifically targets social media platforms, but the UAE’s broader legislative framework already covers a much wider digital landscape. The Federal Decree-Law on Child Digital Safety, issued in late 2025, applies to websites, search engines, smart applications, messaging apps, forums, online gaming platforms, live streaming platforms, podcast platforms, streaming services, online video-on-demand platforms, and e-commerce platforms. That law also prohibits digital platforms from allowing children to participate in online commercial games involving gambling or digital betting activities. Given the global trend toward extending child online safety rules to gaming and streaming services (as the UK is now considering) it would not be surprising to see the UAE expand specific age-based access restrictions to gaming platforms, streaming apps, or other digital services in due course.