Banning social media for children below 16 years!

By M.Y.Siddiqui

Union government in the Ministry of Information Technology & Electronics has taken up an exercise to ban social media access to children below 16 years, encouraged by Australia’s and some other countries’ experiment to this effect. If this proposal is introduced in India, there will be built-in algorithm (age assurance technology), which will prevent any cheating of age by the user children in line with the Australian operation system. The proposal aims to protect under 16-year age youth mental health, reduce exposure to harmful content, and ease parental pressure. Detailed insights are being worked out in keeping with the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000 as amended to date and other laws and regulatory measures..

When implemented, the measures are intended to protect mental health and well being of children and their parents. It intends to lower anxiety, lessen depression and better sleep. It will protect children from harmful content, protect from violent, misogynistic, or predatory material, reduce exposure to unrealistic beauty and eating disorder standards, and stop technical companies from using design features that hook young minds.

Banning social media access for children/students also intends to bring about several social and family benefits to the countrymen and women. It is expected to encourage real world play and school focus, besides parental relief that may give caretakers/guardians backing to limit toxic online pressures. It will also provide accountable technology that may force large platforms to take safety duties seriously. 

Inaccessibility to social media will help lower anxiety, improve mental health and safety with reduced cyber bullying, and lower risks of online abuse, harassment, and targeted peer pressure. With less harmful content, it will cut exposure to dangerous material like eating disorder promotions, misogyny and violence. Lowering anxiety aims to decrease rates of depression, low self-esteem, and social isolation tied to heavy scrolling.

Some other intended reliefs include childhood recovery and parental relief. It will give children more time for offline social interactions, physical play, and real world skill building. It will also ease intense modern pressures on parents and others in families trying to police complex digital spaces.

Social media sought to be banned for access to the children and teen are TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and more. The proposed rule would not punish young people or their families, instead social media companies will have to stop under-16s from having accounts or risk serious fines, to be decided by the government. The proposed rule will make things safer online. But the real fix will help improve social media safety, not just delaying access.

UNICEF, the UN organ for worldwide welfare of children, will be appreciative of ban on social media for children below 16 years, as in Australia, if such measures are extended all across the globe. According to various cyber security research organizations, exercises are afoot in more than 20 countries including India to bring about laws in this regard! 

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