EXCLUSIVE: Govt looks at nuanced, graded age-based restrictions on social media for children

While the IT Ministry has over the weeks discussed the possibility of allowing limited usage to children at certain fixed hours during the day in its internal meetings, top government sources said there have been informal discussions amongst Cabinet ministers on the need for social media curbs on children. The government is also keen to have a wider public discourse on the issue, and would move ahead with the law once a series of consultations is conducted.

“We are in favour of restrictions, but not a ban,” said the functionary responding to the announcements by Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. While Andhra has proposed banning social media for children below 13 years within the next 90 days, Karnataka has said it will ban children below 16 years from using social media.

“The younger generation has more exposure, they are more aware, more mature, compared to previous generations… Hence, we do not believe in very harsh measures such as a ban. The regulations have to be nuanced and graded,” the functionary said, adding there have been informal discussions amongst Cabinet ministers, and there is a broad consensus on the need for curbs.

Last month, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had said the Centre was discussing age-based restrictions with social media companies.

Another government official said time-based limits, like not allowing log-ins in the evening and night to children, or specifying a certain period of time per day for children to access social media, are some measures being currently discussed. “Like how China has placed a strict one-hour period per day for children to access online gaming services… of course, all this will be linked to platforms also being required to gather parental consent,” the official said.

Calls for banning social media use for children are gaining traction across the world, with the precedent set by a landmark Australian legislation that went into effect last year. Indonesia also recently announced it will ban Instagram and other “high-risk” social media platforms for users under 16 years old later this month.

French President Emmanuel Macron had called on India to consider banning social media for children during his keynote address at the India-AI Impact Summit last month. As the current G7 chair, France will work towards ensuring the protection of children against AI and digital abuse, he said.

“This is why we are embarking on a process to ban social networks for children aged under 15 years,” Macron said. Spain and several other European countries are going to take a similar step and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “join the club”.

Across these moves, the refrain is largely similar: that social media platforms, which are seeing an exponential increase in problematic and harmful content, aided now also by artificial intelligence, could have an adverse impact on children, and lead to mental health related issues, among other things.

Earlier this year, the Economic Survey 2025-26 called on the government to implement age-based limits for social media usage for children and digital ads targeted at them. The Survey’s recommendation stemmed from larger concerns surrounding “digital addiction” among young users.

It also said that simpler devices, such as basic phones or education-only tablets, should be promoted among children along with enforced usage limits and content filters. This could reduce their exposure to harmful material, including violent, sexual, or gambling-related content, the Survey said.

Top government sources said while considering a law for social media usage restrictions, the government’s “first principle would be citizen safety”.

In response to the Karnataka government’s announcement to curb social media usage by children, a Meta spokesperson had earlier said while it will comply with the ban in Karnataka when it is enforced, such restrictions should “apply equally across the many apps that teens use and not just a handful of companies”. “Governments considering bans should be careful not to push teens toward less safe, unregulated sites, or logged-out experiences that bypass important protections,” the spokesperson said.

The industry is also sceptical of various state-level interventions, fearing that different administrations could issue varying prescriptions, which might lead to an inconsistency in compliance. “A central level law that lays down rules for social media access can be carried out uniformly. But, with some states banning such usage and some not, that could be operationally challenging to implement given the nature of connectivity. Implementing geo-restrictions at the states’ level is definitely difficult,” a senior executive from a tech company said.

Another tech executive pointed out that in Karnataka, the government is calling for a ban on social media use by those under the age of 16, whereas in Andhra Pradesh, the measure may apply to those under the age of 13. “This inconsistency in defining who is a child will arise if different states bring out different legislations, so a central level measure may be preferable,” this executive said.

Beyond operational challenges, there are also concerns around access to online services and how a ban on usage for kids could lead to discriminatory access, based on gender lines. The Delhi-based digital rights group Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) said blanket social media bans are a “disproportionate response that can do more harm than good” .

Such measures “often fail to address root causes such as platform design choices that maximise engagement over safety, inadequate data protection frameworks, and poor digital literacy infrastructure while restricting children’s right to information, expression, and participation”, the rights group said.

“In the Indian context, where girls and young women already face significant barriers to digital access, a ban framed around ‘protection’ can easily become another tool to deny them connectivity altogether. Families and communities may use such restrictions to justify keeping girls offline permanently, deepening the digital gender divide rather than narrowing it,” it said.