Chennai, 26 December 2025: Keeping in mind the mental health and online safety of children, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court has made a landmark comment. The court has said that the Indian government should also consider making a law to control the use of internet and social media by children below 16 years of age like the Australian law.
Justice G. Jayachandran and Justice K. K. Ramakrishna’s bench S. This observation was made while hearing the public interest litigation of an applicant named Vijaykumar. The applicant had argued that Australia has become the first country in the world to ban social media for children under 16 years of age on 10 December 2025. In India too, such a law is necessary to protect children from harmful content on platforms like Instagram and Facebook.
The High Court had made it clear that, until the new law comes into force, the National and State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights should immediately prepare an ‘action plan’ to make children aware about the safe use of the Internet. It has also been considered to direct Internet service providers to provide ‘Parental Window Service’. Young children being exposed to obscene and violent content on social media is having a serious impact on their mentality.
It is worth mentioning here that not only Australia, but the European Union is also moving towards banning the use of social media for children in its 27 member countries. In September 2025, the head of the European Union had also given clear indications in this regard.
The applicant’s lawyer had submitted in the court that at present obscene material is easily available on the internet, which is increasing crime and mental disorders among teenagers. Now everyone is keeping an eye on the Central Government’s response to this application.
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