Hong Kong age assurance plan for social media, AI will draw on international examples | Biometric Update

Biometric Update has reported that Hong Kong is pursuing online safety regulations intended to protect minors from the potential harms of social media and chatbot AI. The report is headlined "Hong Kong age assurance plan for social media, AI will draw on international examples." It describes Hong Kong as the latest government to pursue regulations of this kind.

According to the report, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam said Hong Kong will take a "multi-pronged approach." The approach, he said, could include legislative measures, administrative measures and educational measures. Lam also said Hong Kong will study overseas experiences of regulating minors' use of AI, and will analyse how effective those experiences have been. The measures were described as possibilities rather than as commitments.

The report states that the plan will draw on international examples and describes it as an age assurance plan covering social media and AI. The report identifies both social media and chatbot AI as categories of online service used by minors, and treats them within a single regulatory effort aimed at protecting them from potential harms. The report does not state which jurisdictions Hong Kong intends to study, what age thresholds any assurance measure would use, or on what timetable the measures might proceed. The article does not report any decision by Hong Kong to adopt a specific model from another jurisdiction, only that overseas experiences will be studied and assessed for their effectiveness.