The Philippine Senate’s version of the social media bill passed almost unanimously, save for Sen. Risa Hontiveros, a children and women’s rights champion. Hontiveros, in explaining her sole dissenting vote, said she prefers “tiered restrictions” for adolescents instead of a blanket under-18 ban. “Our legislation must reflect the realities of how social media has also benefited young people,” Hontiveros said, adding that a sudden prohibition could drive children’s social media underground.Hontiveros said that, instead of keeping children off platforms, the goal should be to create a safe internet environment. “Taking it away from them all of a sudden without providing adequate ways for them to cope with its absence,” she said, “is not the answer to their needs and it is not the answer to our collective fears.”What’s been proposed in the billsSen. Robinhood Padilla, who sponsored the Senate’s version, told a local radio station that the upper chamber’s measure was necessary to curb not only violence in schools but bad influence on youth as a whole. “This measure must be passed immediately because [social media has] caused a lot of bad things to our youth, especially to minors,” Padilla said on Oct. 11, citing instances of bullying, suicides, and school shootings. “All these problems have compounded over time.”
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