UAE social media ban for under-15s: How will platforms verify users’ ages?

Dubai: Recently, the UAE has taken a landmark step in child online safety, announcing a ban on social media access for children under the age of 15. TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and X now have up to 12 months to fundamentally overhaul how they handle young users in the country or face administrative penalties and potential restrictions on their operations.

Cabinet Resolution No. 106 of 2026 places wide-ranging obligations across all five platforms, from age verification to the disabling of targeted advertising aimed at minors.

One of the most cucial details in this resolution is Article 4, which sets out how platforms must verify users' ages to ensure the under-15 ban is meaningfully enforced. Here's what it says, and what it means in practice.

How social media platforms must verify users' ages

Social media platforms operating in the UAE are now legally required to verify their users' ages.  Any age verification system must:

• Be accurate - it must reliably confirm or estimate a user's age with a high level of accuracy, making it difficult to bypass or trick

• Limit data collection - platforms can only collect the bare minimum personal data needed to verify age, with no unnecessary expansion of what's gathered

• Follow data protection principles - the system must comply with data minimisation, purpose limitation, and processing security rules. Biometric data and official documents must not be kept any longer than is strictly necessary to complete the verification

• Be non-discriminatory - the system must not unfairly disadvantage or technically exclude any category of user

• Integrate with national systems - it must be capable of connecting with officially approved national age verification systems when requested

• Be open to regulatory audit - the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) must be able to review and audit how the system works at any time

• Be transparent to users - clear and easy-to-understand information about how the age verification works must be made available to all users

• Be subject to additional standards - the Child Digital Safety Council may approve further standards on the recommendation of the TDRA

What age verification methods are allowed?

Platforms can use one or more of the following approved methods, provided they meet the standards above:

1. Government or official ID verification  - this includes verifying through a digital government identity, scanning an official identity document, or using an official document combined with biometric matching (such as a face scan)

2. AI-based age estimation - using artificial intelligence technologies, including biometric means, to estimate a user's age

3. Licensed third-party verification providers - using an age verification service provider that is officially approved and licensed to operate within the UAE

4. Any other method approved by the Child Digital Safety Council on the recommendation of the TDRA

Simply typing in your date of birth will no longer be accepted. Self-declaration of age, or any other method not officially approved under this resolution, will not be recognised as valid.

Privacy and data protection

Regardless of which verification method a platform uses, all social media platforms must fully comply with UAE privacy and personal data protection laws, including the relevant Decree by Law and any resolutions issued under it.