Kazakhstan

National jurisdiction · as of 2026-09-06

Kazakhstan's Law No. 169-VI "On the Protection of Children from Information Harmful to their Health and Development" (2 July 2018) classifies every item of information production into six age categories from "under 6" to "18+" before it may be distributed, requires the category to be marked, and separately bars distributing content prohibited for children to minors, with technical or administrative access-restriction measures required where that distribution happens over the Internet.

Ordinary internet resources may mark on a voluntary basis, but the Law's own exemption list excludes internet publications and online platforms from that voluntary carve-out, leaving them inside the general mandatory-marking rule. The scheme was amended in 2024 and 2025 and remains under active revision. No dedicated app-store age-verification statute and no standalone social-media minor-access statute were located within this visit's budget.

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Instruments on record

Law on Protection of Children from Harmful Information, age classification and marking

In force

Law No. 169-VI (2 July 2018), Arts. 9, 15

Effective 2019-01-09 · Applies to both

Article 9 requires every item of information production to receive an age classification before distribution in Kazakhstan, assessing theme, genre, content and artistic design, how a child of a given age category is likely to perceive it, and the likelihood of harm to a child's health and development. Article 9(3) sets six categories: "under 6", "from 6", "from 12", "from 14", "from 16", and "from 18" (information containing content prohibited for children).

Article 15 requires the age-category sign to be marked on the product by its distributor, and bars distribution without the sign, subject to a list of exemptions (live news, entertainment and sports broadcasts; general political print periodicals; news and analytical television programmes; radio broadcasting; advertising; and internet resources).

That exemption list itself excludes internet publications and online platforms, so marking on an online platform is not voluntary the way it is for an ordinary internet resource. Both articles were amended in 2024 and again at the end of 2025.

Source: Full text of law

Law on Protection of Children from Harmful Information, restriction on distributing content prohibited for children

In force

Law No. 169-VI (2 July 2018), Art. 16

Effective 2019-01-09 · Applies to both

Article 16 defines information harmful to children as anything prohibited by the Constitution or by this Law, or restricted for children of a given age group by other legislation, and Article 16(2) lists what is prohibited for children outright: incitement to self-harm or suicide, incitement to antisocial or unlawful acts, sexually explicit content, depiction of sexual violence, profanity, content whose distribution to children is banned by other Kazakhstani laws, and content propagandizing non-traditional sexual orientation or paedophilia.

Article 16(3) bars distributing such prohibited-for-children content to minors at all, and where that distribution happens over the Internet requires administrative, technical, software or other means restricting children's access to it. Article 16 was amended in June 2024 and again at the end of December 2025.

Source: Full text of law