ISLAMABAD – A new bill has been tabled in the Senate of Pakistan proposing a minimum age requirement of 16 years for users of social media platforms.
As per the proposed legislation, social media companies will be obligated to prevent individuals below this age from creating accounts. Failure to comply may result in fines ranging from Rs50,000 to Rs5 million.
The bill further outlines penalties for anyone who facilitates underage users in account creation. Such individuals may face imprisonment for up to six months along with financial penalties within the same range.
Additionally, the bill empowers the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to block accounts of users under the age limit and take preventive measures to stop children from accessing social media.
This move aims to ensure a safer online environment for children and reduce the risks associated with early exposure to social media platforms.
Earlier, PTA issued a warning urging WhatsApp users to be cautious of scam messages sent from unknown local or international numbers. These messages often pretend to be from WhatsApp’s official account and may display the WhatsApp logo to appear legitimate.
PTA said these WhatsApp scam messages typically include a suspicious URL and may falsely claim that a user’s account has violated policies or requires security verification. Users are strongly advised not to click on these links, as they are malicious and could result in data theft or complete compromise of the account.
According to PTA, these scam attempts are not associated with WhatsApp and are designed to trick users into giving up sensitive information. To stay protected, users should block such numbers immediately and report them through WhatsApp’s built-in reporting system.
