Hong Kong is considering new legislation and other measures to regulate how minors use social media and artificial intelligence platforms. The move follows concerns about children’s online safety and places the city within a widening international consensus on regulating minors’ online activity.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announced an interdepartmental task force on minors’ use of social media and artificial intelligence platforms this month. Legislation is among the options being considered, marking a possible shift from advice and voluntary guidance toward formal rules.
Why screen use has become a family issue
The numbers show why the subject has moved beyond private family decisions. In Hong Kong, 34.7 percent of kindergarten pupils spend at least an hour each day on social media. Over half of children aged six to 10 own smartphones, giving many children direct access to online platforms at an early age.
Screen time also sits at the centre of family conflict. More than 80 percent of parent-child disputes are linked to screen time, turning device use into a daily source of arguments at home. The figures point to a problem that affects young children, parents, and schools rather than only older teenagers.
Heavy device use has been linked to poorer mental health, disrupted sleep, and deteriorating eyesight among children. These concerns add weight to calls for measures that address how minors use social media and artificial intelligence platforms, especially when children can reach online content through personal smartphones.
Guidelines and exhortations have struggled to keep pace with the risks children face online. Advice can help families set boundaries, but it does not change the fact that harmful material and new forms of digital abuse are reaching children with ease.
The risks that new rules would need to address
Children can encounter pornography, cyberbullying, and content glorifying violence online. Artificial intelligence has added another serious concern: AI-generated deepfakes can reach children, and children could be exposed to AI-related crimes such as deepfake pornography.
Deepfakes make the safety challenge harder because artificial intelligence can create false material that looks real. For children and families, the issue is not only how much time a child spends on a device, but also what kind of material can appear during that time.
That distinction matters for any future legislation. Rules focused only on the number of hours children spend online would not directly address pornography, cyberbullying, violent content, or AI-generated deepfakes. Measures aimed at minors’ use of both social media and artificial intelligence platforms would need to reflect the different risks involved.
The task force gives Hong Kong a way to examine those risks together. Social media use, smartphone ownership, screen-time disputes, and AI-related crimes are connected parts of the same online safety problem, even though they affect children in different ways.
A wider policy question for Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s consideration of legislation places it within a widening international consensus on regulating minors’ online activity. The question is no longer limited to whether parents should set rules at home. It now includes whether governments should create measures that protect children across the platforms and technologies they use.
John Lee’s announcement comes as concerns grow that existing guidance has not kept up with online risks. The task force’s focus on both social media and artificial intelligence reflects the changing nature of those risks, from familiar problems such as cyberbullying to newer dangers involving deepfake pornography.
Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok, the Hong Kong Institute of Family Education, and Look Up Hong Kong are among the names connected with the wider discussion around children, families, and online safety. The central pressure remains clear: children are using connected devices at young ages, families are arguing about screen time, and harmful content can reach them with ease.
For Hong Kong, the next step is deciding how far regulation should go. Legislation remains one option under consideration, alongside other measures. Whatever approach follows, the debate now rests on a clear set of concerns: children’s mental health, sleep, eyesight, family conflict, exposure to harmful content, and the growing reach of artificial intelligence.
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