Why GCC Nations Must Move Beyond Content Moderation to Regulate Harm by Design
The recent verdicts in social media harms cases in New Mexico and California point to a finding that regulators can no longer ignore. Harms to children on social media platforms are not incidental. They are shaped by design choices. These cases also strengthen the case for treating platform design, rather than content alone, as a central regulatory concern.
Governments in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) already regulate social media platforms through technical controls, licensing requirements, and enforcement tools such as takedown requests and account restrictions. However, this regulatory framework has mainly focused on platform content rather than platform design.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has moved in this direction with Federal Decree-Law No. 26 of 2025 on Child Digital Safety, which introduces obligations around age verification, default privacy settings, child data protections, targeted advertising, and a risk-based classification framework for digital platforms.
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