New Delhi: A petition was filed in the Supreme Court seeking to prohibit children below 13 from using social media.
The Supreme Court, however, refused to examine the plea which sought directions to the Central government and others to incorporate provisions of mandatory parental controls for children between 13 and 18 years, including real-time monitoring tools, strict age verification and content restrictions in the draft Digital Personal Data Protection Rules.
Observing that it was a policy issue, a bench of Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih granted liberty to ZEP Foundation, the petitioner, to make a representation to the authority concerned.
The plea, filed through advocate Mohini Priya, referred to severe physical, mental and psychological impact of social media on young minds and sought introduction of robust age verification systems, like biometric authentication, to regulate children’s access to social media platforms. The petitioner further sought strict penalties for social media platforms failing to comply with children protection regulations.
“It is a policy matter. You ask Parliament to enact the law,” the Supreme Court told the petitioner’s counsel.
“We, therefore, dispose of the petition with liberty to the petitioner to make a representation to the respondent authority,” the court said, adding that in case the petitioner made a representation, it would be considered within eight weeks.
ZEP Foundation, set up by social entrepreneur Rekha Chaudhari, pointed out in its plea that India was witnessing an alarming surge in depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide rates among children, with overwhelming empirical evidence establishing a direct correlation between excessive social media usage and declining mental health.
Stating that around 30 per cent of India’s population comprises children between the age of 4 and 18 years, the petition called it a “pressing concern”, and argued, “This is not an issue about parental supervision. It needs some restrict age verification mechanism.”
