Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar says her gov­ern­ment is pre­pared to con­sid­er leg­is­la­tion to reg­u­late so­cial me­dia use for chil­dren un­der the age of 12 years, as con­cerns grow about the risks young users face on­line.

In a post on X on Tues­day night, re­spond­ing to com­ments by Arch­bish­op Charles Ja­son Gor­don, Per­sad-Bisses­sar said con­cerns about pro­tect­ing chil­dren on­line were “valid” but warned against mea­sures which in­fringe on con­sti­tu­tion­al free­doms.

“Our chil­dren must be safe­guard­ed from harm. How­ev­er, any blan­ket ban on adults would amount to an un­ac­cept­able en­croach­ment on free­dom of speech and ex­pres­sion,” she wrote.