The UAE Cabinet has issued Resolution No. 106 of 2026, and it is going to change the daily reality for every family with children in the Emirates: children under 15 are no longer allowed to create or operate social media accounts.
Let that sink in for a moment. In a country where kids as young as eight routinely have Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat accounts, the government has drawn a hard line. And for Malayali parents who have been fighting a losing battle against screen time, this might actually feel like relief.
The legislation is aimed at strengthening digital safety for children. The details of enforcement, whether platforms will be required to verify age, whether parents face penalties, and how existing accounts will be handled, are still being clarified. But the signal is clear: the UAE considers unrestricted social media access for young children a safety issue, not a parenting preference.
For Malayali families in the Gulf, this intersects with a conversation that has been brewing for years. Gulf-raised children spend more time on devices than almost any demographic globally, partly because outdoor play is limited by climate for much of the year and partly because busy dual-income or single-income-plus-remittance families often default to screens as childcare.
The honest question: will this actually change behaviour? Probably not completely. Determined teenagers will find workarounds. But it gives parents legal and social backing for a conversation they have been struggling to have. When your 12-year-old argues that everyone else has TikTok, you can now say that the law says otherwise.
Whatever your view on government regulation of personal technology, this resolution acknowledges something important: children’s digital wellbeing is a community responsibility, not just a parental one.