A think tank has urged authorities to step up efforts to address addictive social media use among children and adolescents.

Ray Poon, research director of PoD Research Institute, said now might be a good time for Hong Kong to consider stronger regulation as more and more places worldwide are restricting or banning social media for children under 16.

He said while a blanket ban for under-16s might not be viable or necessary in Hong Kong, other legislative and regulatory options should be considered.

“We might control use of the infinite scroll that makes people addicted or personalised advertising, as well as overnight notifications," Poon said.

"So these are effective ways to minimise the addictive elements from social media,” he said.

“In addition to legislative actions, we might further our action towards other stakeholders, such as parents and families.

"They may also be looking for better guidelines from the government, or even at schools the teachers may want to know the latest trends happening on social media.”

Poon went on to say that some countries that have started restricting or banning social media for children under 16 years of age have been facing various challenges.

"So in Australia there is a blanket ban. However, we also experience a lot of young people are finding loopholes in a system," he said.

"For example, they are using VPNs or having their parents help them to log in or create new accounts.

“And in the UK example, they are proposing stronger age verification. So they might roll this out next year. However, in the past, the UK had also tried to implement an age verification system for adult content but that also created a huge privacy issue."





Edited by Azam Khan