New Delhi : Children under 18 years of age Social media Also, the Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Central Government and sought a reply on the petition demanding that account opening on other digital platforms should not be allowed. The petition also calls for various safeguards including mandatory consent of parents or legal guardians for using social media.
The petition filed by the NGO Just Rights for Children Alliance said that Meta and other social media companies have set a minimum age limit of 13 years to open an account. Platforms like Facebook and Snapchat allow children as young as 13 to open accounts. However, under Indian law, a person below 18 years of age is considered a minor. The petition has sought an amendment to the Information Technology Rules, 2021 or a direction to frame separate guidelines in this regard.
Meanwhile, it has been demanded that no digital platform should enter into contracts with children below the age of 18 without the consent of a parent or legal guardian, and make parental verification or e-KYC mandatory.
Question mark on giving direct access
The petition also demanded that even if minors are given access to digital platforms, it should be in a legally acceptable manner with the involvement of parents or legal guardians. It also said that there should be a provision for parental verification or e-KYC depending on the nature of the services and the risks involved.
Many dangers can be faced
The petitioners claim that allowing children independent access to digital platforms could expose them to threats such as online grooming, sexual exploitation, human trafficking, behavioral profiling, misuse of personal information, cyberbullying and age-inappropriate content.
Urgent need for security measures
While issuing the notice, the bench said, India needs some security measures. On behalf of the NGO, Senior Advocate H. S. Phoolka was present. The petition argues that, despite strict penal provisions prohibiting the dissemination and possession of child sexual exploitation material, online platforms have failed to implement automatic content-filtering tools and age-verification mechanisms.
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