The Government of India has brought new draft rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, in which big steps have been taken to control the presence of children on social media.
According to these rules, “children below the age of 18 years will not need permission or consent from their parents to create a social media account.”
The draft rules state that the data should be digital. Verify the consent of the parents. Adopt technical and organized measures.
This step should be taken to give priority to the protection of the personal information of children and persons with disabilities.
India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has published a draft of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Rules, 2025, aimed at safeguarding citizens’ personal data.
The rules address challenges like unauthorized commercial use of personal data and focus on user privacy and tech company obligations.
The DPDP Act establishes a framework for processing digital personal data, balancing individual rights with the need for lawful data processing.
Technical experts opinions
Technical experts have supported the rules but raised questions about their effective implementation. Research Director Tarun Pathak said that “the intention is good, but implementing it is a challenge. He also said that parents should digitally educate their children to prevent them from using smartphones and social media”.
Prabodh Ram, Vice President of CyberMedia Research, “observed that mental health is at risk due to addiction to domes, scrolling, and social media in children.” Smartphones and social media have a deep impact on the mental health of children.
Related provisions and challenges
The draft rules state that the identity and age of the parents will be verified through a government identity card or digital token. However, experts said that it would be difficult to ensure that the children will not use other tactics. They may use a VPN, provide fake identity proof, and falsify their age.
Industry experts are concerned about it because it would be necessary to see how much consent process should be made. Also, it would be a challenge to ensure that the platform follows these rules properly.
Awareness is necessary for society.
Technical experts believe in making children aware of screen time, digital detox, and online safety. Along with this, open dialogue between parents and children can be a permanent solution to this problem.
The Government of India has taken strict measures regarding data security and online privacy of children. Although these rules are easy to implement. But now it remains to be seen how the government and society together make it effective.
