CONFIRMED: The Philippine House of Representatives passed HB 11566 on third and final reading on 12 October 2026. This is a PROPOSAL and NOT law. The House and Senate versions differ and must be reconciled before any bill can go to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The House of Representatives in the Philippines has approved House Bill No. 11566, the proposed Safe and Friendly Environment for Kids in Digital Spaces (SAFE Kids) Act. It “received 287 votes in favor, three against and no abstentions” [1].
A third and final reading is the last House vote on a bill. In the Philippines, a bill still needs both chambers to agree one text, and the President to sign it, before it becomes law.
What the House bill would do
- Under-13s: “Children below 13 will be barred from creating or maintaining accounts on social media and online gaming services with social or interactive features” [1].
- 13 to 17-year-olds: they “will need parental consent and face restrictions on targeted advertising, recommendation algorithms, endless scrolling and behavioral profiling” [1].
- Safer defaults: covered platforms would have to adopt safety features and make protective settings the default for younger users [1].
- A new office: the bill would create an Office for Safe and Friendly Environment for Kids in Digital Spaces under the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT). It would oversee compliance and “develop systems to verify users’ ages” [1].
Behavioural profiling means building a picture of a user from what they do online, often to target ads or recommendations.
Who backed it
House Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III listed HB 11566 among four priority bills of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) passed on third reading on 12 October. Its authors include the Speaker, Senior Deputy Speaker Ferdinand “Dinand” Hernandez and Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos [2].
Dy, who called it the Children’s Social Media Safety Act, said in Filipino that the House wants to protect children from harmful online content “sa pamamagitan ng age restrictions, parental consent, at mas mahigpit na pananagutan ng social media platforms” (through age restrictions, parental consent and stricter accountability for social media platforms) [2].
The Senate wants a stricter version
The Inquirer reports that the House and Senate “have passed differing versions of the bill”, and that the Senate’s bill mandates “a total ban on social media access for minors under 18” [3]. The House named Representatives Roman Romulo, Agatha Cruz, Audrey Zubiri and Florabel Yatco to negotiate with the Senate, the Inquirer reports [3].
Until the two chambers agree a single text, and the President signs it, none of these rules apply.
Sources
- BusinessWorld (Pexcel John Bacon), “House OKs child online safety bill”, 12 October 2026. https://bworldonline.com/the-nation/2026/10/12/786425/house-oks-child-online-safety-bill/
- Police Files Tonite, “Speaker Dy reports 448 bills passed and action on 32 LEDAC priorities”, 12 October 2026. https://www.policefilestonite.net/2026/10/12/speaker-dy-reports-448-bills-passed-and-action-on-32-ledac-priorities/
- Inquirer.net (Kenneth Christiane Basilio), “House passes bill restricting minors’ social media use”, 12 October 2026. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2322187/house-passes-bill-restricting-minors-social-media-use
