Under-16s social media ban, should Thailand follow suit?

Several countries have imposed or are considering social media bans on under-16s, after Australia enacted a ban in December 2025, citing the protection of youngsters’ mental health and wellbeing. Experts feel, however, that Thailand is not ready to follow suit.

“I disagree with the ban, but social media should still be used under parental supervision,” Chayagon, a Thai high school student said about the ban and whether Thailand should have one.

“I think the social media ban is a good thing because children will focus more on their studies and spend less time on their phones,” Namphet, another high school student told Thai PBS World.

“Maybe not a complete ban, but some restrictions would be good because I do agree that young people spend a lot of time on their phones these days,” Sofia, another student believes, while also mentioning that overuse of social media adversely affects their mental health and body image.

-Why is Thailand not ready?-

Currently, Thailand has no official proposal to ban social media for under-16s, but there are some calls to do so. Thailand’s Health Promotion Fund says it is pushing for a ban, claiming that over 93% of the Thai population have access to the Internet, spend almost 8 hours onlinein every 24 and that 72% of children aged under 2 spend over an hour on smartphones.

A renowned Thai paediatrician, Associate Professor Dr. Suriyadeo Tripathi, pointed to the major concerns supporting a social media ban for under 16s in Thailand - lack of governance, lack of education on media literacy and phone addiction.

“Is Thailand ready? Not at all,” he says, noting the widespread availability of smartphones, which anyone can purchase regardless of household income. As he explains, computers and laptops can be a huge investment for some households, while smartphones priced as low as1,000 baht are ubiquitous and affordable even for low-income families.

“Some low-income families want their kids to have smartphones, so that they have better access to the world,” he commented.

The widespread availability of digital devices leads to another persistent problem, which is the heavy reliance on smartphones in schools. One example is how teachers assign their students’ homework, and students submit their homework through smartphones or email, which he strongly opposes.

A complete ban might, however, remove opportunities to learn important digital skills, especially given the exponential growth in the use of AI in almost every aspect of life. The key is selective bans on certain apps.

“I talked to some experts in the UK, where they recently introduced a ban. They only restricted certain apps that could put children at risk of being scammed, groomed, could harm their mental well-being or were more likely to encourage children to use them in harmful ways, rather than for educational or beneficial purposes,” he said.

The increasing phone use may also stem from a lack of alternative interactive activities for Thai teens. Therefore, the Thai paediatrician hopes to see more public spaces, like libraries, where children and teens can spend their time completely disconnected from screens and unleash their own creativity.

“We consider these activities only when Thai Children’s Day is coming up. There are not even many out-of-school camps either. There is high demand, many people do sign up for it, but there are not enough activities like these which will allow Thai youth to unleash their creativity.”

-No point having a ban, if you can’t enforce it-

Another expert, Assistant Professor Dr. Nattasuda Taephant, Dean of the Faculty of Psychology at Chulalongkorn University, supports the social media ban, as social media have affected young children’s mental well-being.

Studies have proved that social media has increased risks of depression, low self-esteem and possible suicide ideation among youngsters, with cyberbullying among the top contributing reasons.

“Even the satisfaction of engaging in daily activities also dropped in some people, because they are addicted to how social media responds much faster to their needs and wants,” she says.

Still, Dr. Nattasuda thinks that youngsters, who are usually good at adopting digital skills faster than adults, will still try to evade the ban, either through the use of VPNs or faking their date of birth. In Australia, for example, research has shown that about 80% of Aussie teens can still access social media, even though the ban is in place.

“If the ban is imposed but we cannot control youngsters sneaking their way to use it, then the ban doesn’t mean anything. So, instead of social media bans, why don’t we figure out what to do so that social media and the Internet can be safe for these kids?” Dr. Nattasuda asks.

-What about young content creators?-

The President of the Thailand Content Creator Association (TCCA), Khajorn Chiaranaipanich, thinks otherwise though.

Many youngsters in Thailand are now content creators themselves, contributing to the country’s creative economy as a whole. Thailand has over 9 million content creators, according to the TCCA, 2 million of whom are doing it full-time, contributing 45 billion baht to the country’s creator economy in 2025, with growth expected at 25-30% each year.

According to Khajorn, among the Top 10 categories of content creators in Thailand is parenting. Thailand is also witnessing growing numbers of youth content creators as game-casters or vloggers showcasing their daily lives. There are, however, no official data as to how many of these creators are under-16.

If the social media ban is imposed, he says that these young content creators will inevitably be included.

“The difficulty is, though, that many Thai teens use social media without their parent’s knowledge. So, that would be hard on young content creators, if they suddenly can’t use their accounts and they have to use their parent’s accounts instead.” Khajorn also questions whether adults have enough understanding of content creation and even monetisation.

“If it really happens, I think the government and social media platforms need to decide how to help these young creators, because some of them also earn income through the content they publish.”

-What needs to be addressed first?-

Ultimately, these experts hope to see stronger action from the Thai government, citing that it has consistently failed to hold these platforms accountable for harmful content affecting users, especially children, not to mention the rise of online scammers targeting young victims.

“I want the government to focus on the execution of their measures,” Khajorn says, stating that Thailand is great at rolling out new laws and regulations, but unable to reinforce them strictly enough.

“Thailand has never been able to hold these online platforms accountable, whether it's social media or e-commerce platforms. Although there have been attempts, they could never penalise them. This is because our law enforcement is still weak.”

Similarly, Dr. Suriyadeo outlined some actions that can be done immediately, from families and schools, to the government level.

He suggests that parents should set an appropriate time-limit for smartphone and social media use for youngsters. He also prioritises overseeing age-appropriate content and teaching their children how to use social media and the internet safely and responsibly. Teachers should also consider smartphone bans in classrooms and increased digital and media literacy lessons for students.

Most importantly, Dr. Suriyadeo urges the government, especially the Digital Economy and Society Ministry, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) and the Digital Government Development Agency (DGA), to take proactive steps in regulating social media and online platforms, with strict punishments for violators.

“If you’re not going to ban social media, at least have strict regulations and punishments so that no one dares to exploit these platforms,” he commented.

Dr. Nattasuda hopes to see the same. She believes that the government and digital platforms should work together to ensure online safety for teens and children, which would help reduce negative impacts on their mental well-being.

“Before we even consider a ban, if the government and digital platforms really work together, they could agree on what kind of content should be accessible or what is or isn’t appropriate for different age groups, and they could establish a shared set of guidelines,” she says.

Above all, digital literacy must be prioritised. Before giving out a smartphone, a tablet device or even a laptop, digital literacy is becoming much more important for youngsters and families today to protect them from online threats.

“If all of us work together, then perhaps there won’t even be a need to ban social media, because we can create a healthier online environment and healthier ways of using these platforms,” Dr. Nattasuda concluded.