Karnataka govt proposes social media ban for children below 16

Karnataka has become the first state in the country to propose a ban on the usage of social media for children under the age of 16.

Presenting the State’s Budget on Friday, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, "With the objective of preventing adverse effects of increasing mobile usage on children, usage of social media will be banned for children under the age of 16.”

However, the government did not specify when the ban would come into effect.

India is home to over a billion internet users, according to a report by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Of this, around 983 million are wireless subscribers and 45 million are wired users. The first point of access to the internet is through a smartphone.

On the proposed move by the Karnataka government, Harsh Walia, Partner at law firm Khaitan & Co, says, “Karnataka has proposed to ban social media for under-16 users, and reports suggest Andhra Pradesh may consider a similar approach. If implemented, platforms will need to operationalise robust age-assurance and age-gating measures and potentially adopt state-specific controls such as geo-fencing where requirements differ across state jurisdictions.”

The country's Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act outlines the requirement of parental consent for use of children' s personal data. It also requires online platforms to implement age verification and parental consent mechanisms before a minor can open a social media account.

Walia says “This (the proposal by the Karnataka government) could effectively shift the compliance emphasis under the DPDP framework from obtaining verifiable parental consent for a child to first reliably identifying whether a user is under-16 in the relevant states and restricting access accordingly. Platforms should closely track the final notification and begin planning for implementation."

Tanu Banerjee, Partner at Khaitan & Co, raises the question of states' authority in enforcing such a ban. She says, "While the objective of protecting minors from the potential harms of social media is understandable, state-level bans raise questions about the scope of states’ regulatory powers and their practical enforceability. Regulation of digital platforms is largely governed by central laws such as the IT Act and related rules."

Australia became the first country in the world to implement a ban on the usage of social media by children under the age of 16. Reports suggest that the European countries of Britain, Denmark and Greece are also looking at enforcing similar measures.