THE SENATE on Thursday approved on third and final reading Senate Bill No. 2424, or the proposed Safe Media Access and Responsible Technology for Kids in Digital Spaces (SMART KIDS) Act.

The measure seeks to restrict minors, or those below 18 years old, from accessing high-risk digital services, including platforms such as Meta, Roblox and Gorebox.

During the plenary session, the Senate voted 16-1, with no abstentions, to establish a framework for identifying digital services that may pose risks to children.

The bill also seeks to require parents, guardians and digital service providers to adopt measures to prevent children’s exposure to digital risks, minimize distractions caused by mobile devices and electronic gadgets, and safeguard children from online harm in support of their holistic development and a safe learning environment.

Sponsored by Senator Robinhood Padilla, the bill would require high-risk digital services to suspend, restrict, disable or remove any account reasonably determined to be owned, operated or used by a minor.

Under the measure, these platforms would be required to ensure that individuals below 18 years old cannot access or create an account and to adopt and implement age-assurance measures to determine whether a user meets the minimum age requirement.

The provisions, however, would not cover electronic mail services, private messaging services, online gaming services that are not primarily used for social networking, educational platforms, news services and professional collaboration services.

If enacted into law, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) would oversee the implementation of the safeguards.

The DICT would also be mandated to establish and maintain an accessible platform where the public can freely report suspected violations of the proposed law.

Reports involving harmful content that require immediate action would be subject to expedited referral or escalation to the concerned digital service providers.

High-risk digital services found to have violated the measure could face fines ranging from P5 million to P20 million per violation, plus an additional P100,000 for every day of noncompliance.

Meanwhile, parents or legal guardians found to have knowingly facilitated the circumvention of age-assurance mechanisms could face a fine of up to P50,000, community service, and mandatory participation in digital parenting and child safety programs.