There has been a lot of news lately about countries banning social media access for children, mainly because of concerns around mental health, harmful content, cyberbullying, and how hard it has become for parents to manage online safety on their own. Although Kuwait hasn’t implemented a ban on social media access for children yet, Virgin Mobile Kuwait is one step ahead.
Virgin Mobile just launched a new mobile plan designed to offer a safer online experience for children called Aman (meaning safe in Arabic). Aman works at the network level, so it’s not an app or software you install, and there are no complicated device settings you need to deal with. Everything is handled automatically through the network, which makes online safety a lot easier for parents.
Once the Aman plan is active, popular social media apps like Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, and X are automatically restricted. You don’t have to do anything else from your end.
Another cool thing about the Aman plan is that it’s designed to improve over time with feedback from parents. That means parents can influence future updates, including which platforms or apps should be blocked next. It makes Aman feel less like a fixed product and more like something that grows and improves as families use it.
Also, just to be clear, this works on phones and home routers as well.
If you want to find out more about Virgin Mobile’s Aman plans, head over to @virginmobilekw
9 replies on “Blocking Social Media for Kids in Kuwait”
This is great. I hope Zain implements this too.
It’s all fun and games until the child learns how to bypass these restrictions using a free VPN, some of which are unsafe and have malware or sell your data, so is this really protecting them?
And a national ban on social media like other countries are doing right now is just a front for mass surveillance. Companies offering online services will be forced to start asking for biometrics or ID to verify your age, they’ll save them on servers that eventually get hacked and leak people’s IDs, and most notably, you’ll have everyone’s internet activity tied to real identities.
Discord just announced they’re rolling out ID checks globally next month, and all of us adults are forced to take the hit by submitting our IDs. “Protect the kids” has always been a scam. Parents are 100% responsible for what kids have access to and what products they’re given to use. Don’t neglect your kids.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1d67vdlk1ko
don’t know on android but on iOS kids wouldn’t be able to download and install stuff on their phones without their parents permission so they couldn’t install a vpn.
Oh, well I just searched and found out that you can also block specific apps and websites with iOS parental controls too, including social media services.
Android – Google Family Link has been doing this trick since 2017 !!!
Parents have a supervisor controls- limit apps, seperate app time controls, extend time, immediate shut down etc.
yup, but as I mentioned this is on the network level so you don’t need to do anything on the phone, or tablets or their computers.
Kids should be engaging in screen-free play instead of an “online space”.
This is tough to implement but is essential not just for kids but for young adults as well. For starters, parents and / or the house help (to whom much of the parenting in Kuwait is outsourced to) should keep tabs on “screen time” and every home should come equipped with anti phubbing bands for the man and the lady of the house and their children. No shame distributing these anti phubbing bands to visiting house guests too. Try it, it works!
Think they should be blocking social media for certain adults too, just saying…