The Indian state of Karnataka, home to the tech hub of Bengaluru, plans to ban children under 16 from using social media. This decision joins a growing global movement that aims to curb young people’s access to online platforms, despite questions over enforcement and effectiveness.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced the decision during the state’s budget speech. He stated the prohibition is intended to prevent adverse effects on children from mobile phone use, but did not share details on how the restrictions would be enforced.
The Karnataka state government did not hold a consultation on the ban before this announcement, according to sources at separate tech companies. Governments across the world have been moving to restrict children’s access to social media following years of concerns over how platforms affect young and vulnerable users. Australia became the first country to ban social media for teenagers last December. Indonesia said it would ban high-risk platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, and Roblox for users under 16 starting March 28. Malaysia has also signaled it is examining similar measures.
The debate has been gaining traction at the national level in India. Officials in the Indian states of Goa and Andhra Pradesh recently said they are studying similar restrictions. In December, the Madras High Court urged the federal government to consider Australia-style restrictions on children’s social media use. A month later, India’s chief economic adviser proposed age-based limits on access to social media platforms he described as predatory.
A spokesperson for Meta told TechCrunch that the company supports measures that give parents greater control over teenagers’ app usage, but cautioned against broad social media bans. The spokesperson said governments considering bans should be careful not to push teens toward less safe, unregulated sites, or logged-out experiences that bypass important protections. Meta said it would comply with bans where they are enforced, but argued that since teenagers use around 40 apps a week on average, restrictions targeting only a handful of platforms would not necessarily improve safety.
Legal experts questioned whether an Indian state has the authority to enforce such restrictions. One expert said the announcement appears to be more of a statement of intent than a concrete policy proposal, and it is unclear whether the state government has the legislative authority for such measures. She added that policymakers should consider India’s unique challenges, such as shared device usage and the digital divide, rather than blindly follow models adopted in Western countries.
Another policy expert said broad regulations concerning internet policies fall largely under India’s federal jurisdiction, potentially limiting the ability of individual states to impose such bans. He stated a state can articulate the policy objective of child safety, but a binding ban would be much harder for a state to sustain on its own without running into constitutional questions.
Digital rights advocates have raised concerns about blanket restrictions on children’s access to social media. One group said such measures raise questions about enforcement and could require age-verification systems that create new privacy risks for users. The group also warned that broad bans risk restricting children’s access to information and expression, and potentially deepen India’s digital gender divide if families use such measures to keep girls offline. They stated that child safety online demands serious, evidence-based policy, not headline-driven prohibitions.
India’s IT ministry and the Karnataka chief minister’s office did not respond to requests for comment on the proposal. Several major tech companies also did not respond to requests for comment.