HANOI: As concerns mount over children’s safety online, a proposal to restrict or even ban children from using certain social media platforms has sparked debate in Vietnam over how best to keep them safe online.
The issue was raised at a recent group discussion during the first session of the 16th National Assembly, where Nguyen Thi Mai Thoa, a member of the National Assembly’s Committee for Culture and Society, warned of increasingly sophisticated forms of online abuse targeting children.
These range from scams and psychological manipulation to cyberbullying and digital violence.
She urged authorities to study measures to limit or ban children from accessing certain popular social media platforms, arguing that many parents lack the time to monitor their children’s online activity, while young users are especially vulnerable to harmful content.
Thoa pointed to international precedents. Australia enforced a ban on social media use for those under 16 from December 2025, while Indonesia and France have implemented similar measures since March 2026.
The United Kingdom is also piloting restrictions on selected platforms, reflecting a growing global push to shield children from toxic content and digital addiction.
Parents caught in the middle
The proposal resonates for many Vietnamese parents, but it is not without complications.
Nguyen Thu Huyen, the mother of a teenage girl in Hanoi, described the toll social media has taken on her child.
“Her brain has grown accustomed to short videos, making her less inclined to think deeply. She’s lost confidence from constantly comparing herself to unrealistic online images,” Huyền said.
“She’s addicted to social media, struggles to focus on her studies, interacts less with family and friends and avoids real-world activities.”
She added: “I regret letting her use social media too early. If I could choose again, I wouldn’t even give her a smartphone.”
Yet for others, outright restriction appears impractical. Pham Trung Hieu, father of a seventh-grade boy, noted that schooling itself is now intertwined with digital platforms, from assignments shared via messaging apps to online lectures and group work conducted virtually.
“If I don’t give my child a phone or computer, it affects his studies. But both parents are busy all day. We can’t constantly supervise how he uses it,” Hieu said.
He hopes for solutions that allow parents to better control content while urging schools to adopt dedicated platforms for assignments instead of relying on social media.
A question of approach
Experts caution that while the concerns are valid, blanket bans may miss the mark.
Speaking to vietnamnet.vn, Pham Manh Ha of Hanoi University of Science and Technology said social media platforms are designed to create interaction addiction, where each like or notification delivers a small dopamine boost. This makes disengagement difficult.
“Prohibition is not an effective approach,” he said. “In education, anything strictly banned without explanation often becomes more appealing, leading children to access it secretly without the skills to protect themselves.”
Ha warned that rigid bans could deepen inequality, as better-off students might find alternative access while disadvantaged peers risk being cut off from learning resources.
Moreover, shifting the burden entirely onto families without proper tools could undermine efforts to build digital citizenship skills among students.
Instead, he advocates a model of empowered protection, focusing on equipping children with self-regulation skills.
This approach must be undertaken by families, schools and policymakers, he said.
Families should move from control to companionship, discussing online content with children and co-creating digital rules on usage time, space and purpose, including screen-free periods before bedtime, during meals and in the early morning.
Schools need to integrate practical digital literacy into curricula. They should not just warn about internet harms, but teach students to identify misinformation, manage emotions when facing negative comments and set personal limits.
Early detection and psychological support for cases of addiction or cyberbullying are also critical.
Meanwhile, policymakers should focus on platform accountability, requiring youth-specific account settings with restricted features, no targeted ads and non-addictive algorithms, he said.
Le Thi Thu Ha, director of the Centre for Children and Development under the Vietnam Association for Protection of Child Rights, agreed. Ha said that building a safe digital environment requires collective responsibility, not isolating children from it.
“As education develops digital and global citizens, separating children from online communication tools is not feasible,” she said.
“Instead, families and schools should work together to establish codes of conduct in cyberspace, based on listening to and reaching consensus with children themselves.”
She also stressed the need for a two-pronged strategy: developing safe, child-friendly digital spaces for learning and entertainment, while working with telecom providers and tech platforms to enforce stricter identity verification for users under 16.
Such measures could help filter harmful content and apply scientifically grounded limits on screen time.
Experts now agree that clearer regulations are needed not only for social media, but for children’s internet use more broadly.
Only a comprehensive legal framework that clearly assigns responsibility to platforms, families, schools and authorities can ensure that children are truly protected and safe in the digital space. — Vietnam News/ANN
