Pakistan Lawmakers and Advocates Seek Social Media Ban for Minors

Legal advocates and provincial lawmakers in Pakistan are pushing for federal legislation to restrict social media access for children under the age of 16. On September 1, 2026, advocates Muhammad Jalal Haider and Yahya Farid Khawaja filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court urging the Government of Pakistan to implement mandatory age-verification mechanisms and parental consent requirements to protect minors from cyberbullying and exploitation.

On the same day, the Punjab Assembly unanimously passed a resolution moved by MPA Sarah Ahmed calling for a legal ban on social media accounts for children under 16. The resolution urges the federal government to introduce laws safeguarding the physical, mental, and moral development of children from inappropriate content and sexual exploitation.

Both the legal petition and the assembly resolution recommend that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority require social media platforms to establish reliable age-verification systems. The Punjab Assembly further proposed coordinated digital safety awareness campaigns involving federal and provincial institutions to educate parents and teachers. These efforts cite similar regulatory trends in countries including Australia, France, China, the United Kingdom, and the United States.