Parents
Staying Safe on X
Keeping your child safe online
Setting privacy and safety controls
X, formerly Twitter, allows your child to share short posts, follow conversations and stay updated on news, trends and topics that interest them. What they post, see and interact with can influence how they think and feel. Understanding how X works, the risks involved and the controls available can help you guide them towards a safer online experience.
How can content on X affect your child?
What your child sees on X is personalised. It learns from the accounts they follow, what they like, repost and interact with, and shows more similar content that it thinks your child likes.
Even though X has safety settings for younger users, your child may still see content that:
Involves cyberbullying, harassment or doxxing
Promotes hate speech, racial or religious content
Spreads misleading or false information
Comes from impersonation accounts pretending to be someone your child knows
If content on X starts to affect your child’s mood or behaviour, it may be time to review their settings with them.
What are X’s default protections for younger users?
The minimum age to create an X account in Singapore is 13 years old. However, some public content may be accessible without an account.
For younger users aged 13 to 17, some privacy and safety settings are turned on by default to provide extra protection.
Settings to limit interactions with strangers
Accounts are set to “Protected posts” by default, so only approved followers can search for and see your child’s posts
Only accounts they follow can message them directly
Filters to reduce inappropriate content
Potentially harmful content is hidden from recommendations
Mature content is filtered out
How can you further protect your child on X?
Even with default protections in place, you can add extra safeguards by reviewing settings together and agreeing on what safe usage looks like in your family.
Discuss what your child sees
Review content controls together so that your child views content that is suitable for them. Encourage your child to:
Tap “Show less often” on posts they do not want to see more of
Mute posts containing keywords that bother them
Go through interaction settings together
Together, review the personal data visible on your child’s account and manage who can interact with them. You and your child can decide on:
Whether they should turn off the settings that allow others to find them by their email address or phone number
Who can message them
When to untag themselves from unwanted conversations they are mentioned in
Whether they should disable photo tagging or choose who can tag them in photos
Whether there are accounts they should block
Support healthy screen habits
Find out how X makes your child feel and agree on healthy boundaries.
Check in on how X makes your child feel after long sessions
Encourage breaks if scrolling starts to feel overwhelming
What else can you do when something does not feel right?
Sometimes, certain content or interactions may cause your child to feel uncomfortable and unsafe.
When that happens, let your child know that:
They do not have to respond or explain themselves
Saving screenshots or links can help if you or your child want to report harmful behaviour
Blocking or reporting is okay
Talking to you or another trusted adult can help them figure out next steps
Getting support early can prevent things from getting worse
Where can you learn more about X’s safety tools?
Visit this resource to find out more about how to help your child stay safe on X:
X Help Centre: Get help with your child’s account, settings and security, and find answers to common questions
You can also explore other online safety resources on our website for more advice on keeping your child safe online.