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

India could go the adjacent large trial lawsuit for age-based societal media bans, arsenic states measurement Australia-style restrictions connected children’s entree to platforms amid a increasing planetary regulatory push.

The propulsion has begun astatine the authorities level, with the occidental authorities of Goa becoming the latest to survey whether to barroom children nether 16 from societal media platforms. “Australia has brought successful a instrumentality ensuring a prohibition connected societal media for children beneath the property of 16,” said Goa’s IT curate Rohan Khaunte this week. “Our section radical person already pulled retired those peculiar papers. We are studying them, if possible, [will] instrumentality a akin prohibition connected children beneath 16 for usage of societal media.”

Like Goa, the confederate authorities of Andhra Pradesh is besides considering adopting Australia’s approach. Earlier this month, the state’s IT and acquisition minister, Nara Lokesh, suggested the move, saying officials were studying Australia’s law.

“I judge we request to make a beardown ineligible enactment,” Lokesh said connected the sidelines of the World Economic Forum successful Switzerland.

The Andhra Pradesh authorities has already constituted a Group of Ministers to survey whether restrictions oregon a prohibition connected minors’ entree to societal media platforms would beryllium legally and practically feasible. The sheet is chaired by Lokesh and includes cardinal furniture ministers.

In summation to the 2 Indian states, the contented has besides drawn judicial scrutiny, with the Madras High Court urging India’s national authorities successful December to see Australia-style restrictions, highlighting however concerns astir children’s online information are driving regulatory debates good beyond legislatures.

Any determination to restrict children’s entree to societal media successful India would transportation important implications for planetary exertion companies, for which the South Asian federation is simply a captious maturation market. Government estimates enactment India’s net idiosyncratic basal astatine more than 1 billion, with a ample stock of those users coming online astatine a young age, making the state cardinal to the idiosyncratic and advertizing strategies of platforms specified arsenic Meta, Google, and X.

A Meta spokesperson said the institution shared lawmakers’ extremity of creating “safe, affirmative online experiences for young people,” but argued that parents — alternatively than governments — should determine which apps their teenagers use. “Governments considering bans should beryllium cautious not to propulsion teens toward little safe, unregulated sites, oregon logged-out experiences that bypass important protections – similar the default safeguards we connection successful Instagram’s Teen Accounts,” the spokesperson said.

Passed done the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 and approved by parliament successful November 2024 earlier taking effect successful December 2025, Australia’s under-16 societal media prohibition has already exposed enforcement challenges for platforms.

Last year, Meta began notifying Australian teenagers that their accounts would beryllium unopen down, signaling the difficulty of accurately determining users’ ages, peculiarly erstwhile radical are not ever truthful astatine sign-up. The law, which besides included Twitch but exempted Pinterest, Discord, GitHub, Roblox, and Steam, among others, has reignited concerns astir integer age-verification systems, which airs privateness and information risks owed to the delicate information they require.

Australia’s determination is being intimately watched beyond India, with governments successful countries including Denmark, France, and Spain, arsenic good arsenic Indonesia and Malaysia, studying akin restrictions.

Kazim Rizvi, founding manager of New Delhi–based deliberation vessel The Dialogue, told TechCrunch that portion determination is increasing unit to modulate children’s usage of societal media, net governance falls nether national law, meaning states cannot amend nationalist statutes specified arsenic the Information Technology Act oregon the Digital Personal Data Protection Act. He added that immoderate states, including Andhra Pradesh, are truthful apt to question the cardinal government’s enactment — an result that remains uncertain.

India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, passed successful August 2023, includes circumstantial protections for children’s data, requiring verifiable parental consent earlier processing idiosyncratic information of individuals nether 18 and prohibiting tracking, behavioural monitoring, and targeted advertizing directed astatine minors. However, the operational rules for these provisions are being phased successful done 2027, giving platforms clip to instrumentality the required safeguards.

Google, Snap, and X did not respond to requests for comment. India’s IT ministry besides did not respond erstwhile contacted.