Kazakhstan is preparing to introduce restrictions on social media access for children under 16, and Vice Minister of Culture and Information Yevgeny Kochetov revealed details of the initiative on the sidelines of the Palace of Independence, infohub.kz reports.
Journalists asked the vice minister whether the ministry had reached clarity on the matter. According to Yevgeny Kochetov, the draft law currently contains two provisions. "The draft law currently has two provisions. The first is a substantive provision stating that restrictions will be introduced for children under 16. The second concerns verification. We proposed wording under which the online platform itself would carry out verification," he said.
He said this provision emerged after analyzing global practices. "If you follow the global agenda, you know that many countries took on verification obligations themselves, at the state level. In many countries, unfortunately, this practice did not work. We saw that in Australia it did not work particularly well, because document-related issues arose. In France, for example, when a similar provision was introduced, the highest constitutional court said it should not look that way. It was sent back to the government, and the president ordered the provision to be urgently reworked. That is why we followed the principle that the online platform itself should take on the obligation to verify users," the vice minister explained.
He also addressed the question of what children who want to post interesting content on social media should do. "No one is prohibiting parents from talking about their children. That is, this can be done through parents' accounts. This is not about limiting talent, not about hearing children's voices less. It is primarily about protecting them from psychological pressure, cyberbullying and other risks that social media pose. Therefore, we are confident that Kazakhstan will certainly not have fewer talented children because of this amendment," Kochetov said.
Recall that in December 2025 it became known that a draft law banning social media for children under 16 had been put up for discussion in Kazakhstan. In May this year, Kochetov said the draft amendments were at the stage of coordination with government agencies, so the details of the initiative were still being discussed. Recently, President Qasym-Jomart Toqaev also commented on banning social media registration for children under 16.