#online safety
26 articles
- Instagram guesses your child's age now. What if it's wrong?
Instagram now estimates your child's age from photos and posts instead of asking. What happens when the guess is wrong, and what Singapore plans.
- AI voice cloning scams: when the call sounds like your child
AI voice cloning scams can make a stranger sound like your child. Why a familiar voice no longer proves anything, and the family check that still works.
- YouTube's AI age check now runs on Singapore accounts
Google's age estimation model guesses whether your child is under 18 from what they watch on YouTube. What that changes for a Singapore family.
- China's kid mode covers the whole phone. Ours stops at the app.
China builds one kid mode across the phone, the app store and the app. Singapore parents get per app parental controls, and AI slips between them.
- Australia banned under-16s from social media. Did it work?
Australia's under-16 social media ban is nine months old and the first evaluation is in. Here is what the results mean for families across Asia.
- Minecraft added an age check. It is aimed at the adults
Minecraft's age check asks grown ups to prove they are 18, not children to prove they are not. What that means for a Singapore family.
- Fortnite's age rating stops where the AI starts talking
Epic switched on AI characters that talk back inside Fortnite islands. What a game's age rating still tells you, and what it now cannot.
- Snapchat's age limit is 13. Who actually checks?
Snapchat's age limit is 13, but the checking has moved to Apple, the app store and a machine's guess. What that leaves for a Singapore parent.
- Is Instagram safe for a 12 year old? What that 13 really means
Every app sets 13 as its minimum age, but that number comes from a 1998 privacy law, not a safety test. Here is what to ask before you say yes.
- India will check your child's age with an ID, not a face scan
India will soon require a parent's verified consent for every under 18 online, and it is choosing a government ID token over an AI face scan.
- WhatsApp parental controls are here. Meta AI is the gap
WhatsApp's new parent-managed accounts switch Meta AI off for under 13s. Once a child moves to an ordinary account, that AI supervision vanishes.
- TikTok age bans are coming to Europe. Will they work?
France bars under 15s from social media and TikTok is guessing ages with AI. A year of UK data shows what a TikTok age ban really changes.
- Discord's age check, and the ID your teen uploads
Discord is rolling out age checks worldwide. The risky part is not the face scan, it is the appeal form where a teen uploads a real ID.
- Roblox checks your child's face now. What it can't see
Roblox now uses a face scan to sort players by age before they can chat. What the check does, where it slips, and what it leaves to parents.
- How old should a child be to use AI? The labs disagree
Anthropic says 18, OpenAI says 13, Google lets an under-13 in with a parent's tap. What those AI age limits really tell a Singapore parent.
- Where to report an AI fake of your child in Singapore
Singapore's Online Safety Commission opened in June 2026. What it can take down when an AI-made image of your child spreads, and what it cannot.
- Singapore's app store age checks, and the AI they miss
Singapore's app stores now check ages before under-18s download adult apps. Here is what that gate catches, what it does not, and what parents can do.
- Training AI on children's data now needs its own consent
A US rule that took full effect in April 2026 means firms must ask separately before training AI on children's data. What it changes for parents.
- Why young children believe AI before they can question it
The loudest worry about kids and AI is teenagers and homework, but the youngest children trust the machine most and question it least.
- Are AI toys safe? The trouble with talking teddy bears
An AI teddy bear drifted into explicit talk, and another toy exposed 50,000 children's chats. What parents should know about AI toys before buying one.
- When an AI companion is hard to quit, teens notice first
Most teens use AI companions for fun and creativity, not romance. The ones who get stuck are often the first to say so, if we listen.
- Kids are adopting AI faster than adults, and they're wary of it
A UNICEF study of 20 million children across 10 countries finds kids adopting AI far faster than adults, and surprisingly clear-eyed about its risks.
- AI deepfake nudes in schools are a peer problem, not stranger danger
AI nudify apps have made deepfake abuse a classmate problem in schools, and most parent safety talks aim at the wrong threat. What actually helps.
- Kids can't switch off Google's AI answers, and that's the risk
A July 2026 safety review found Google's AI search answers pose an unacceptable risk to kids, and parents can't turn them off. What to actually do.
- Parents underestimate how much their kids use AI
New 2026 research finds parents guess their children use generative AI far less than kids say they do. Why the gap matters, and how to close it.
- AI chatbot bans for kids: what the 2026 laws actually do
In 2026 a wave of state and federal laws set out to restrict AI companion chatbots for minors. Here is what they cover, and what they leave to parents.
