Karnataka Proposes Social Media Ban for Children Under 16

Recently, the Karnataka Government announced a ban on social media use for children below 16 years while presenting the Karnataka State Budget 2026–27, citing concerns over the adverse psychological and developmental effects of excessive mobile phone and social media usage among children.

Social Media Regulation in India

• Information Technology Act, 2000: The primary legislation governing digital activities in India, including social media.
• Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021: These rules specifically regulate social media platforms, imposing various obligations on them.
• Key Provisions under the rule:
  • Appointment of Grievance Officer: Social media platforms must appoint a grievance officer to address user complaints.
  • Removal of Harmful Content: Platforms are required to remove content that is illegal, harmful, or objectionable.
  • Traceability of Origin of Messages: Platforms must be able to identify the first originator of information, raising concerns about privacy.
  • Due Diligence: Platforms must exercise due diligence in verifying the authenticity of user accounts and content.
  • Transparency Reports: Platforms must submit periodic transparency reports to the government.
• Relevant Authorities:
  • Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY): The primary government body responsible for formulating and implementing policies related to information technology, including social media.
  • Cybercrime Investigation Cell (Cyber Cell): Investigates cybercrimes, including those related to social media.
  • Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In): Monitors and responds to cyber threats and vulnerabilities.
• Purpose of the regulation: These regulations aim to balance free speech with the need to control misinformation, hate speech, and other harmful content on social media platforms.
  • However, they have also raised concerns about potential censorship and surveillance.

Reasons for Advocating Bans on Social Media Use

• Cyber Bullying: Young children, especially girls are the easiest target for cyberbullying and Social media platforms act as a catalyst to it.
  • Example: The Chinese App TikTok is frequently in news for exposing young girls to cyberbullying.
• Pornography: Children can come across pornographic materials on these social media platforms which can negatively impact their impressionable minds as they risk getting easily addicted to it.
• • Example: In 2022, India recorded over one thousand cases of Child Pornography with Karnataka reporting the highest numbers
• Addiction and Danger of Falling into Feedback Loops: Social media is designed to exploit users’ attention which poses a risk as young children will easily fall prey to such dopamine-driven feedback loops and get addicted.  
• Mental Instability: Increasing online presence is negatively affecting the children’s cognitive development as it isolates them, impacting their socialisation skills which affects their future mental peace and stability.
  • A psychology book by Professor Jonathan Haidt called ‘The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness’, provides a direct link to the cause for poor youth mental health and wellbeing and the rise of smartphones and social media.
• Violence: Children coming in contact with violent viral content on social media like sexual abusive content , bullying, cuss words, soft porn, hate speech etc can develop violent tendencies amongst themselves.
  • Example: Mumbai-based Association of Adolescent and Child Care in India (AACCI) surveyed schools in Mumbai and Gurgaon and found that aggression was on the rise. 
• Health Impacts: Social Media Addiction can be manifested as ADHD (Attention Deficit/ hyperactivity Disorder), aggression, memory issues, headaches, eye and back discomfort, stress, communication difficulties, lethargy, and even depression.
  • The sleep pattern of children is affected due to excessive use of social media.
• Falling Prey to Misinformation: Social media is a hub for false information. Children can be brainwashed easily through propaganda.
  • As per a study of UNICEF, only 2% of children and young people have the critical literacy skills they need to judge whether a news story is real or false.

Arguments Against Ban on Social Media Use

• Enforcement Challenges: Bans are challenging to enforce in a digital environment as  children can easily bypass these barriers. 
  • Example: As South Korea passed Cinderella Law banning gaming from midnight to 6:00 a.m there was a rise in identity theft by children to be able to access the gaming platforms.
• Shared Device Usage: In India, as digital literacy is quite low, children help their parents navigate the internet, therefore to expect parents to guide children on safe online usage is not feasible.
  • Example: A survey of 10,000 children in Tier 2 and  Tier 3 cities and in government schools in Delhi and found out that 80% of children helped their parents navigate online platforms.
• Low Digital Literacy: Using Age Verification Technologies like ID-based verification would be difficult for people who are less literate.
  • Example: The NSSO (National Sample Survey Office) data, only 40% Indians knew how to copy or move files on a computer (2021). 
• Absolving Accountability: An outright ban will discourage the technology companies in taking responsibility and will have less imperative to design platforms keeping in mind child safety parameters.
• Negation of Positive Digital Engagements: Social media can help children to think critically and engage with people of similar interests building critical socialisation, communication skills for the future with its wide resources 
  • Example: Children Climate activists like Greta Thunberg used Social Media for propagating her message and building a community of like minded children. 
• A Learning Tool: The digital age and social media have created unprecedented opportunities for children and young people to communicate, learn, socialize, and play, exposing them to new ideas and more diverse sources of information.

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Way Forward

• Age Verification vs. Privacy: Acknowledge the “Privacy Paradox”—how do we verify age without collecting sensitive ID data? Suggest Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP) as a solution.
• The “Australian Model”: Australia’s 2025 nationwide ban is the benchmark Karnataka is following. 
• Education over Exclusion: Instead of a total ban, propose “Graduated Digital Autonomy,” where features are unlocked as the child grows (e.g., no algorithms under 13, limited messaging 13-16, full access at 18).
• Adopt Age-Appropriate Design: Follow the U.K’s 2020 Age-Appropriate Design Model, where children have better default settings when they join the platform and are exposed to minimum risk.
• Continuous Feedback on Technology Designs: Platforms should perpetually engage in technology design upgradation as and when any new risk  arrives, also there should be a feedback mechanism in place to monitor the changes seen in children’s behaviour.
  • A study found that platforms such as Meta, Google, TikTok, and Snapchat have made 128 changes related to child safety and privacy.
• Digital Safety Literacy: Children as a part of their core curriculum should be taught Digital Safety Practices like how we teach them safety practices in the physical world.
• Discussion on Law on ‘Sharenting’: It is a practice where the parents publicize a large amount of potentially sensitive content about their children on Internet platforms.
  • Example: The Assam Police, have been using their social media to warn parents against ‘sharenting’
• Parents as Role Models: Restricting the use of Social Media to children while using it for one’s own amusement will only make the child more resentful and deceptive. Therefore, the parents have to regulate their own use of platforms as well.
  • Research shows that when a parent is able to support their child to really maximise the benefits of being online, this also works to mitigate the harms.
• Evidence-Based Policy: High-quality, child-centred research should guide policies and designs by major platforms and develop industry-wide standards defining as to what type of content are appropriate for children of different ages.
  • This includes faster research processes that keep pace with emerging digital risks
• Implement Safety-By-Design Principles: The Principle popularised internationally by the Australian eSafety Commissioner is to inculcate  safety features into the DNA of technological products and platforms to eliminate sexual, violent and other age-inappropriate content from their feeds.
  • To give minors privacy by default.
  • To provide standardised, easily accessible and well-explained reporting processes across diverse platforms.
  • To use AI to detect bad actors attempting to interact with children.

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