The UAE government has issued a new Federal Decree-Law that aims to protect children from harmful digital content and practices that negatively affect their physical, psychological, and moral well-being.
The comprehensive legislative framework is issued by a UAE Cabinet decision following approval from the Education, Human Development, and Community Development Council. It establishes a system for categorising all digital platforms, whether operating within the UAE or directed to users within the UAE, based on an assessment of their risks and impact on children.
The new law defines the roles and functions of relevant authorities in this regard. It establishes a ‘Child Digital Safety Council’, which will be chaired by the Minister of Family and work as an advisory and coordinating body to achieve integration between federal and local entities and the private sector regarding efforts to ensure children’s digital safety.
The new law prohibits digital platforms from collecting, processing, publishing, or sharing the personal data of children under the age of 13, except under specific conditions. The Decree-Law also allows for the exemption of platforms used for educational or health purposes from this prohibition.
The new legislation also prohibits digital platforms from allowing children to take part in, create accounts for, or access online commercial games involving gambling or digital activities that involve betting on money.
UAE tightens child digital protection
The decree outlines a set of obligations for digital platforms to ensure the protection of children from harmful content in the digital environment. These include establishing and implementing default privacy settings, providing age verification mechanisms, offering tools to enforce age restrictions, activating blocking, filtering, and age-rating tools for content, as well as regulating targeted online advertising.
It also outlines a set of obligations for internet service providers, including activating content filtering systems on their networks to enhance compliance with policies prohibiting harmful content for children, and taking the necessary measures to ensure safe and supervised use of internet services or electronic devices by children. This includes requiring the child’s guardian to sign the terms of service, including those that mandate the integration of parental control tools.
The decree also outlines a set of obligations for child caregivers in this regard. They must monitor the child’s digital activities, use parental control tools to ensure safe use and protection from harmful content, and refrain from creating accounts for children on digital platforms that are not age-appropriate or do not comply with enhanced child protection standards.
The newly formed Council’s functions will include proposing policies, legislation, and strategies to ensure the highest levels of digital safety for children; proposing awareness campaigns; and conducting studies to monitor emerging digital risks in light of rapid technological advancements.
The decree-law applies to internet service providers and digital platforms, whether operating within the UAE or targeting users within the UAE. The platforms that come under the purview of the law include websites, search engines, smart applications, messaging applications, forums, online gaming platforms, social media platforms, live streaming platforms, podcast platforms, streaming services, online video-on-demand platforms, and e-commerce platforms.
The new decree-law is in line with the UAE’s declaration of 2026 as the Year of Family.
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