The Karnataka government is looking to implement a ban on children below the age of 16 using social media, sparking a national debate about digital addiction, safety in the digital space, and the practicality of such bans.

Karnataka’s Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced the proposal during the budget presentation asserting that there were increasing concerns over excessive smartphone usage by children.

(Mujhe kyun toda?) 

“With the objective of preventing adverse effects of increasing mobile usage in children, usage of social media will be banned for children under the age of 16,” Siddaramaiah said while presenting the budget.

This proposal places Karnataka among the first state governments in India to propose serious limitations related to overall access by children to social media; however, details regarding how they will implement the ban on use of social media by minors are not known.

India Is Currently Having Conversations About the Age Related Access Restrictions for Children On Social Media

Karnataka’s proposal is not singular, tho. Discussions about whether there should be age related restrictions regarding social media access are occurring amongst policymakers throughout India.

Guys, humari fielding set hone waali hai

According to The Indian Express, discussions have already started within the IT Ministry in a discussion about how to implement the age-based restrictions.

According to IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in a statement from last month, the government has begun discussing implementing restrictions to allow children access to social media. Additionally, this past year, the Economic Survey 2025-2026 also called for the government to create and enforce age limits upon use of social media for children.

As part of their report, the ministers recommended the following to reduce the likelihood of minors using social media:

– Age-based limitations on minors access to social media

– Restrictions on advertisements directed toward minors

These findings stemmed, in part, as a result of the increasing number of minors who have developed an addiction to digital media.

Additionally, the Economic Survey suggested requiring children to use more simplified forms of digital devices.

Such as basic cellular devices, and/or an educational-only tablet, along with strict use limitations, and stricter forms of filtering the material viewed by them.

So you’re telling us, no rabbit-hole worthy Reddit threads anymore? 

By promoting the suggestions set forth by the Economic Survey, there will be a reduction in the likelihood of children being exposed to inappropriate content that can be violent, sexual in nature, and/or containing the possibility of gambling.

Not only Karnataka 😥

A growing national conversation surrounding restrictions regarding online social interactions with third parties, will undoubtedly need to become more prevalent in the coming years.

As reported by Media Report, Andhra Pradesh has announced potential plans to restrict youth (defined as anyone under 18) from accessing social media with specific detail regarding user’s ages still being worked out.

Karnataka would restrict minors (often defined as those under 16) while Andhra Pradesh would limit access to those under the age of 13. Experts have warned that age-related differences could pose problems with respect to how social media prohibition will be enforced.

A Technology executive stated that having two states which have different definitions of an underage person could create problems due to lack of clarity between both state laws as they relate to social media and age.

“This inconsistency in defining who is a child will arise if different states bring out different legislations, so a central level measure may be preferable,” the executive said. 

Technology Experts Feel… 

Technology companies and their associates believe that enforcing a ban on social media would be very complex. (and tbh will feel kinda khaali khaali and what do i do with my life for some time). 

Executives of technology companies have stated that implementing state-based restrictions on access to social media would require the companies to create geolocation-based access controls, which complicates the enforcement of such restrictions as the Internet does not recognize state lines.

“A central level law that lays down rules for social media access can be carried out uniformly. But, with some states banning such usage and some not, that could be operationally challenging to implement given the nature of connectivity. Implementing geo-restrictions at the states’ level is definitely difficult,” a senior executive from a tech company told The Indian Express.

Experts caution that there are many other simple ways that children can bypass these restrictions, such as using false birth dates or a VPN to hide their actual location, or obtaining login information from someone else who is older than 13.

Meta Responds…

In response to the proposed ban, a spokesperson for Meta told The Indian Express that while Meta would abide by the potential ban, they had concerns about the selective application of the ban to only one or two companies versus applying equally to all social media sites that have teenage users.

According to the spokesperson, “Governments considering bans should be careful not to push teens toward less safe, unregulated sites, or logged-out experiences that bypass important protections,”

Digital Rights Groups Share Concerns

Digital rights group Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) based in Delhi stated that they believed that blanket bans would create more problems than they would solve.

The Internet Freedom Foundation has termed blanket bans on social media by the government a “disproportionate response that can do more harm than good.”

The IFF has stated that these types of bans will not resolve the deeper issues that exist in the digital ecosystem as many of these stem from platform designs that enhance user engagement above user safety, insufficient data protection laws and a lack of digital literacy in India.

The IFF also warned that banning social media may infringe upon children’s rights. (THANK YOU!) 

The IFF believes that bans like these will restrict children’s rights to receive information, express themselves and participate in a digital world. (Tho we too believe that some restrictions are necessary). 

The IFF also voiced their concerns regarding the gender digital divide in Internet access.

“In the Indian context, where girls and young women already face significant barriers to digital access, a ban framed around ‘protection’ can easily become another tool to deny them connectivity altogether. Families and communities may use such restrictions to justify keeping girls offline permanently, deepening the digital gender divide rather than narrowing it,” IFF said.

Reddit has us ROFL-inggggg 

The outcry from the Internet was swift, with users of Reddit providing multiple options for feedback. Oh yeah, here’s where Redditors shine and how! 

A Reddit user stated “There is no way the state can implement this ban. This should be done by parents at their home and by teachers in school by continuously monitoring them.”

Another Redditor voiced concern over the invasion of privacy by the government.

“Everyone saying this is good — if this would be enforced it would mean privacy invasion for all. It would be no different than what’s happening with Discord and in EU and California. The govt does NOT care about your children.”

There were some joking responses to how enforcement might happen.

“Lol that means half of this sub is under threat,” joked one Redditor.

And we don’t wanna really admit just how bang-on they were! 

There was another comment about kids easily getting around it.

“I get the intention behind it, but enforcing this is going to be extremely hard. Most kids will just bypass it with fake DOB, VPNs, or their parents’ accounts.”

Some users questioned if banning social media could be counterproductive.

“How would you enforce it? What happens if a kid of 16 was banned all life and when reached 16 suddenly exposed to the social media? Won’t it be overwhelming?” one user asked.

Even though there were plenty of jokes and cynical people, a small number of users were on board in principle.

“This is needed. But not sure it’s easy to implement. Maybe regulations should be put in place and awareness should be shown to parents about harmful effects of social media,” another Reddit user wrote.