- Goa plans to ban social media for children under 16.
- Proposal aims to protect youth, aid parental controls on usage.
- Focus is on restricting harmful digital activity, encouraging education.
Goa IT Minister Rohan Khaunte on Wednesday said the state government will soon finalise and submit a “comprehensive document” to Union Information and Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw outlining its intention to ban social media use for children under 16.
The proposal follows consultations with industry and academia experts.
Goa To Restrict Social Media For Teens Under 16
“At the end of the day, it’s a central subject, but we want to make our intentions clear for the benefit of the students and the benefit of the youth. It is the initiative of the IT department to move constructively to look at restricting social media for youth below 16 years,” Khaunte said after attending a meeting.
Parents Struggling To Control Usage
“It is a challenge for the parents because they are not able to control. Children are using their phones as they want. A certain policy from the state will also allow the parents to find a particular comfort line and, when a child turns 18, he should not find that he lost five years playing games,” Khaunte added.
Educational Technology To Remain Encouraged
Khaunte said the proposal is aimed only at restricting harmful digital activity while continuing to encourage productive use of technology.
Encouraging students to make “beneficial use of technology,” he said the proposal was only to “restrict that which is detrimental, that which gives the children no dividends.”
“At the same time, we can see how to promote educational tools like Google, where they can spend that same time learning more things, which is good for the youth, who are the future of the country,” he said.
Committee Was Set Up Earlier This Year
Khaunte had said in March that he had constituted a committee to advise the government on drafting a ban on social media for children below 16, citing multiple complaints from parents.
“When we talk about social media, I want to make sure that we are not talking about educational tools. We want them to embrace technology; we also need to have a balance so that they are not misdirected towards issues which are detrimental to the future of the child,” he had said.
Centre Also Holding Consultations
In February, Ashwini Vaishnaw said the Centre was consulting various social media platforms on age-based restrictions.
Other States Also Considering Similar Measures
Khaunte said other states, including Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, are also considering Australia-style age restrictions for users under 16.
“In the country, we are the first to take this up. Andhra Pradesh and others started getting into this mode, and discussions are now happening in possibly every state. I’m confident that the Centre and the states, by putting their thoughts together, will be able to come up with a solution for this,” he said.
Current Legal Position In India
India currently has no law prohibiting children below a certain age from accessing social media.
However, under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, social media platforms must obtain verifiable parental consent before processing the personal data of anyone under 18.
This limits use by minors because platforms generally rely on parental permission to legally process a child’s data, and they cannot freely collect children’s data or target advertisements at them without such consent.
