Social Media Ban for Children

Context: The tragic suicide of three sisters in Ghaziabad, sparked by screen addiction and parental conflict over mobile phone use, has reignited an intense national debate on banning social media for minors in India.

About Social Media Ban for Children:

What is it?

• A social media ban for children refers to legal or regulatory prohibitions that prevent individuals under a certain age (typically 16) from creating or maintaining accounts on major digital platforms.
• It involves shifting the burden of age verification onto tech companies, often requiring government-issued IDs or biometric verification to ensure minors do not access these digital Wild Wests.

Key Trends and Data Statistics:

• India’s Massive User Base: India has the world’s largest user base for platforms like Instagram and Facebook, both exceeding 400 million users in 2026.
• High Teen Usage: The ASER Report (2025-26) indicates that over 90% of Indian teenagers are active social media users.
• Mental Health Warning: The Economic Survey 2025-26 officially flagged compulsive scrolling and digital addiction as a major public health concern for India’s youth.
• Gender Gap: Data shows a stark digital divide: only 33.3% of women in India have ever used the internet, compared to 57.1% of men.
• Time Commitment: Recent surveys show 61% of urban Indian children spend over 3 hours daily on the internet, with many exceeding 6 hours.

Need for Social Media Ban for Children:

• Combating Extreme Addiction: Prolonged exposure to algorithm-driven content can lead to fatal behavioral shifts.

E.g. The 2026 Ghaziabad triple suicide was linked to a Korean task-based love game that the sisters felt they could not leave.

• Mental Health Protection: Heavy use is consistently linked to anxiety, depression, and body image dissatisfaction.

E.g. The Economic Survey 2025-26 explicitly links high screen time to worsening mental health outcomes in the 15-24 age group.

• Prevention of Cyber-Grooming: Bans reduce the likelihood of minors being targeted by predators in unmoderated spaces.

E.g. Recent reporting in early 2026 highlighted failures in AI chatbots leading to sexualized interactions with minors.

• Reducing Exposure to Self-Harm Content: Restricting access limits the contagion effect of viral self-harm tasks.

E.g. Investigating authorities in Uttar Pradesh found the Ghaziabad sisters’ obsession with online tasks directly influenced their decision to jump.

• Restoring Academic Focus: Constant notifications disrupt sleep and cognitive development essential for learning.

E.g. The Chief Economic Adviser noted in January 2026 that cheap data and constant scrolling are eroding the attention spans of Indian students.

Challenges to Banning Social Media:

• Technical Porosity: Children are often more tech-savvy than regulators and easily bypass bans using VPNs.

E.g. Despite age-gating, millions of Indian minors currently use VPNs to access restricted content or apps previously banned (like TikTok).

• Privacy and Surveillance Risks: Mandatory age verification often requires linking accounts to government IDs.

E.g. Critics argue that enforcing the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act rules could lead to a mass surveillance framework via Aadhaar-linked logins.

• Loss of Digital Lifelines: For marginalized groups, social media is often the only space for community support.

E.g. Queer and differently-abled youth in rural India rely on these platforms for peer support absent in their physical environments.

• Exacerbating Gender Inequality: Rigid policing of devices often results in parents confiscating phones only from girls.

E.g. In patriarchal settings, government age mandates give a pretext for families to further restrict female internet access, widening the existing usage gap.

• Push to Darker Corners: Bans may drive users from regulated platforms (Instagram) to unmoderated, encrypted spaces.

E.g. Past bans on specific apps in India saw users migrate to Telegram groups where extremist and unmoderated content thrives unchecked.

Global Best Practices

• Australia’s Minimum Age Law: Australia became the first to enforce a strict under-16 ban on platforms like X and TikTok, backed by fines of up to $50 million.
• Singapore’s App Store Code: Instead of a blanket ban, Singapore regulates app stores to enforce age ratings and strict checks before an app can even be downloaded.

Way Ahead:

• Legally Enforceable Duty of Care: Move beyond bans to hold Big Tech accountable for the safety-by-design of their algorithms.
• Independent Expert Regulator: Establish a dedicated body for digital safety rather than relying on the bureaucracy of MeitY.
• Localized Research: Fund longitudinal studies to understand how social media affects Indian children across different castes and regions.
• Democratic Inclusion: Policy for young people must include their voices; children should be active participants in defining digital safety.
• Healthy Media Ecology: Focus on digital literacy in schools to help children navigate the Wild West rather than simply building a wall around it.