{"id":94284,"date":"2026-03-23T11:16:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T05:46:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=94284"},"modified":"2026-03-23T11:16:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T05:46:49","slug":"children-and-social-media-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/children-and-social-media-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Children and Social Media in India: Rules, Risks and Gaps in Protection"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Children and Social Media in India Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India is relying on a patchwork of laws and platform-led measures to protect children on social media. Risks include exposure to harmful content, online grooming, and cybercrime.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 mandates parental consent before platforms can process children&#8217;s data. The IT Act and POCSO Act provide additional criminal provisions.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Platforms are also using age-gating, parental controls, and child-focused content ecosystems. The government is considering a graded approach to regulate children&#8217;s access to social media.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, experts warn that enforcement gaps, technological loopholes, and easy age misrepresentation continue to undermine these safeguards.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Risks for Children in the Online Space<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Exposure to Harmful Content<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; Increased screen time exposes children to inappropriate and harmful content. This can negatively impact mental health, leading to anxiety, stress, and social isolation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Threat of Online Grooming<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; Children are vulnerable to online grooming, where predators exploit them through digital platforms. This poses serious risks to their safety and well-being.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Rising Cybercrime Against Children<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; NCRB data shows a 32% increase in cybercrimes against children (2021\u20132022). Indicates growing threats as more children engage online.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Increasing Internet Usage Among Children<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A <\/span><b>NITI Aayog report<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> reveals the following average daily online usage among Indian children in 2023:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Up to 5 years: ~1.5 hours daily (educational content, games)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">6\u201310 years: ~2.5 hours (social media, gaming, videos)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">11\u201315 years: ~4 hours daily<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">16\u201318 years: ~6 hours daily<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As screen time rises sharply with age, so does exposure to unregulated content and online risks.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The data underscores the urgency of stronger child safety frameworks in India&#8217;s digital space.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>India&#8217;s Regulatory Framework for Children on the Internet<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India has developed a multi-layered framework combining legislation, platform regulations, and educational initiatives to protect children online.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, critics note that enforcement remains inconsistent.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Data Protection<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under the <\/span><b>Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, companies collecting data of users under 18 must obtain parental or guardian consent.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Platforms are also prohibited from tracking or monitoring children&#8217;s behaviour and serving them targeted advertisements.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A key concern, however, is that children can easily bypass these protections by misrepresenting their age.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Laws Against Online Exploitation<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Key laws addressing child safety online include:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Information Technology Act, 2000<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; Criminalises the creation of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/pocso-act\/\" target=\"_blank\"><b>POCSO Act, 2012<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 Defines and penalises online sexual exploitation and grooming.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 Extends liability to digital offences including trafficking and harassment of children.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Juvenile Justice Act, 2015<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 Addresses online facilitation of child exploitation.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, there are persistent weaknesses in digital forensic capacity, law-enforcement training, and the uneven functioning of Special POCSO Courts, all of which limit the effective investigation and prosecution of offences.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Content Classification and Parental Controls<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under the <\/span><b>IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, OTT platforms must classify their content into five age-based categories:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">U, U\/A 7+, U\/A 13+, U\/A 16+, A\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mandatory measures include:\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Parental locks (U\/A 13+ and above)\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Age verification (Adult content)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Screen Time and Digital Wellness in Education<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Ministry of Education introduced the <\/span><b><i>PRAGYATA Guidelines<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in July 2020, recommending age-appropriate screen time limits for students.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The guidelines aim to safeguard both the safety and academic welfare of children in a digital learning environment.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Age-Gating Measures by Social Media Platforms<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Several major social media and tech platforms have introduced age-gating measures and child-safety tools, though their effectiveness remains a subject of debate.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Google\u2019s Parental Control System<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Minimum age to create a Google account in India is 13 years.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For children below 13, parents can use Family Link to:\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Monitor activity\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Block inappropriate content\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Approve app downloads and manage permissions\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At 13, children can manage their accounts independently, though parents are notified if supervision ends.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Instagram\u2019s Teen Safety Features<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instagram offers \u2018Teen Accounts\u2019 with built-in protections.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Users under 16 require parental approval to relax safety settings.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aims to provide a safer default environment for young users.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Child-Focused Platforms<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Platforms like YouTube Kids provide a controlled content environment.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Parents can customise content based on the child\u2019s age.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instagram had planned a kids-only app, but development was paused in 2021.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Limitations and Criticism<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These measures are not fully effective.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Studies suggest many safety tools can be easily bypassed or ineffective.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Platforms dispute such findings but concerns about real-world effectiveness remain.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-law\/children-social-media-regulations-gaps-10578153\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Children and social media in India face risks like grooming and cybercrime. Laws exist but gaps in enforcement and age verification weaken child safety online.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":94303,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[6289,60,22,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-94284","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-children-and-social-media-in-india","9":"tag-mains-articles","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94284"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94309,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94284\/revisions\/94309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}