Mexico's Secretariat of Public Education (SEP) held its first regional forum on 19 August in Monterrey to build a regulatory proposal on social media use by children and adolescents. The gathering, hosted at the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, opens a consultation round that will culminate in a legislative initiative to be submitted to Congress.
President Claudia Sheinbaum announced the process in July, with the goal of delivering to the legislature an evidence-based proposal on the effects of digital platforms on children's mental health. According to the presidential announcement, more than 70% of the population over the age of six uses the internet, and at least 114 education systems worldwide already enforce similar regulations. What distinguishes Mexico's approach is its method: the proposal is built through open consultations with teachers, students, and researchers before reaching Congress, in line with frameworks that Brazil and Australia are already testing elsewhere.
The schedule includes a national teacher consultation on 24 and 25 August, drawing more than one million teachers from all 32 states, according to La Silla Rota. Regional forums will continue through September. The most advanced regional reference is Brazil, whose ECA Digital framework imposes age-verification and parental-supervision obligations on platforms. Australia has applied one of the most restrictive schemes since December 2025, prohibiting children under 16 from holding accounts on certain social networks. According to El CEO, Mexico's discussion also extends to engagement mechanisms that prolong user sessions, such as infinite scroll and autoplay.
The next milestone is the teacher consultation on 24 and 25 August; the proposal will reach Congress once that round closes. The scope of the rules will determine whether Mexico follows a model narrowly focused on child protection or advances toward a broader framework of obligations for digital platforms, a terrain that artificial intelligence is also beginning to enter.
This article was drafted with artificial intelligence assistance from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.