Gov't weighs tighter social media restrictions for minors, targeting addictive features

The government is considering expanding restrictions on minors’ social media use beyond age limits for account registration to include regulations on recommendation algorithms and platform features to curb excessive use. However, questions remain over how the proposed measures can effectively protect minors from excessive social media use while safeguarding their freedom of expression and access to information. According to the Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC), Sunday, it is considering amendments to the Information and Communications Network Act to prohibit children under 14 from creating social media accounts and require platform operators to verify users’ ages. The commission first proposed the measures during a presidential policy briefing in July. The proposed measures also include disabling personalized recommendation algorithms that analyze users’ interests and browsing histories, as well as features such as infinite scrolling that could encourage excessive use, by default for accounts belonging to users aged 14 to 19. It aims to finalize the measures by the