Indian states weigh Australia-style ban on social media for children

Summary

India could become the next major test case for age-based social media bans, as states weigh Australia-style restrictions on children’s access to platforms amid a growing global regulatory push. The push has begun at the state level, with the western state of Goa becoming the latest to study whether to bar children under 16 from social media platforms. “Australia has brought in a law ensuring a ban on social media for children below the age of 16,” said Goa’s IT minister Rohan Khaunte this week. “Our department people have already pulled out those particular papers. We are studying them, if possible, [will] implement a similar ban on children below 16 for usage of social media.” Like Goa, the southern state of Andhra Pradesh is also considering adopting Australia’s approach. Earlier this month, the state’s IT and education minister, Nara Lokesh, suggested the move, saying officials were studying Australia’s law. “I believe we need to create a strong legal enactment,” Lokesh said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. The Andhra Pradesh government has already constituted a Group of Ministers to study whether restrictions or a ban on minors’ access to social media platforms would be legally and practically feasible. The panel is chaired by Lokesh and includes key cabinet ministers. In addition to the two Indian states, the issue has also drawn judicial scrutiny, with the Madras High Court urging India’s federal government in December to consider Australia-style restrictions, highlighting how concerns about children’s online safety are driving regulatory debates well beyond legislatures. Any move to restrict children’s access to social media in India would carry significant implications for global technology companies, for which the South Asian nation is a critical growth market. Government estimates put India’s internet user base at more than one billion, with a large share of those users coming online at a young age, making the country central t...