Singapore has to act to regulate social media use for adolescents: Ong Ye Kung

Social media has a profound impact on how children are growing up and Singapore must move to address the harms it is causing, with options that are not limited to a ban, said Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung.

Speaking to reporters on April 21 at the close of his trip to China, Mr Ong said the aspects of social media that pose harm to adolescents are features such as algorithmic feeds, videos that play automatically, and direct messaging by adults to young users.

This was an observation by an expert panel formed by Singapore’s Health Ministry to study the issue, and which is now finalising its report, added Mr Ong, who is also Coordinating Minister for Social Policies.

Some critics say that such feeds and video playback could encourage addictive behaviour and excessive screen time, while direct messaging potentially exposes adolescents to cyber-bullying, predators, or inappropriate content from strangers.

Singapore can take the approach – instead of an outright ban – of looking at how concerns about such features can be addressed, he said.

The Ministry of Digital Development and Information will be engaging with tech platforms on these concerns, he said.

“Our options are open, but we will have to do something about this problem,” he said.

Some countries have banned, or are considering banning, adolescents from using social media.

Such a move gained traction after Australia, in December 2025, became the first to bar children under 16 from accessing social media.

But this has also drawn criticism that young people will simply go to other websites or find workarounds.

Mr Ong said he believed there is a net benefit to such a move, but added that the issue was complex.

“Banning is a blunt tool. For adolescents, after all, they do use social media to maintain friendship, keep in touch with friends, and use it for education. So it’s not all bad, it is actually a lot of good,” he said.

Technology is a double-edged sword that also impacts social governance and “changes human relationships quite profoundly”, said Mr Ong, who was in Hangzhou to attend the 5th Singapore-China Social Governance Forum, a biennial avenue for officials from both countries to exchange views and experiences on the topic.

Earlier in the day, he and a delegation of more than 30 Singapore officials visited places that showcased China’s approach to grassroots management at various levels of government, such as villages, a small town, and the largest district in Hangzhou.

They saw two “comprehensive governance centres” in a small town and the city, which serve as one-stop hubs to mediate community disputes such as labour disagreements and family conflicts. These facilities, which number in the thousands and form a key pillar of China’s grassroots management system, also provide professional arbitration services.

The delegation also stopped by the operations command centre of the Hangzhou City Brain, a smart city platform that uses big data and technology like artificial intelligence to improve urban management. Its applications include reducing traffic jams, detecting potential sinkholes early, and providing social services through AI agents.

This was Mr Ong’s first visit as co-chair of the forum, alongside Mr Chen Wenqing, who is a member of the Communist Party of China’s Politburo and secretary of its Political and Legal Affairs Commission (PLAC).

Mr Ong said that while China and Singapore may have different starting points for social governance, the countries were converging in terms of their approach.

Singapore's approach is first from the angle of social harmony, given its multiracial make-up, he said. China, meanwhile, has often started from the standpoint of security, he said, noting that his counterpart, Mr Chen, was from a body that oversees the country’s law enforcement apparatus.

“But as we grapple with the complexities (of social governance), we find that actually there’s a lot of overlap,” he said, with “a lot of commonalities in our solutions”.

He pointed out that just as China prioritised dispute resolution within its communities, and at as low a level of government as possible, Singapore too was augmenting its community mediation bodies, for instance, with a pilot Community Relations Unit in Tampines.

Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli, who was part of the Singapore delegation, told reporters that engaging China on the topic was useful, with Singapore sharing its measures to prevent major disputes from arising – such as by addressing inequality – and China elaborating on what it does to nip disputes in the bud.

“I think this exchange of perspectives is very enriching for both of us,” he said.

Mr Ong said another bonus of the trip, his second to China in 2026, was getting to know senior Chinese leaders such as Mr Chen, the Party Secretary and Governor of Zhejiang province, as well as officials from the PLAC.

Building such relationships was always useful, he said, adding that he intended to maintain these ties in the months and years to come.

Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

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