President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said on Sunday he had been studying the bill passed by the Senate and that a blanket ban on social media could cause children to hide their online activities, leaving them vulnerable to grooming and abuse.
The Senate’s version is stricter than the draft approved by the lower house and bans anyone under 18 from creating social media accounts.
TikTok, YouTube owner Alphabet, and Meta Platforms, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, did not immediately respond to separate requests for comment on the Philippines house passing the bill.
Neighbouring Malaysia in June began barring under-16s from registering accounts on social media platforms, which are required to conduct age verification against government-issued records.
Malaysia has given social platforms until January 2027 to implement the measure.
Indonesia issued a regulation in March requiring social media firms with platforms it deems high risk to deactivate accounts belonging to children under 16, which have so far included X, Instagram and video game platform Roblox.
As of last week, TikTok has deactivated around 9 million accounts belonging to children under 16 in Indonesia, while Meta has blocked 85,000 Instagram accounts and 99,000 Facebook accounts.