- India's government is discussing age-based social media restrictions with tech firms to protect children
- Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw highlighted concerns on deepfakes during the India AI Impact Summit
- India has the largest user base for Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat, posing challenges for enforcement
India's federal government is discussing age-based restrictions with social media companies, as momentum around the world grows to limit children's access to potentially addictive digital services.
The government is holding conversations on “the right way to go forward” with potential age limits on social media and is discussing the problem of deepfakes with social media platforms, Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said at a press briefing on the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit underway in New Delhi.
Vaishnaw's comments mark the first from the federal government on potential age-based bans after months of discussion from Indian officials and local leaders about potential harms from unfiltered access to social media among teens. Last month, in the annual economic survey, the government had listed the issue as concerning. Last month, a minister in the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh told Bloomberg News that the government was studying ways to ban social media for children under 16 years of age.
Globally, more countries are taking steps to crack down on use. Australia was the first country to implement a legal ban, which encompassed Meta Platforms Inc.'s Instagram and Facebook., Snap Inc., Elon Musk's X, TikTok and Google's YouTube. It's since caught on in Europe, with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez calling social media a “failed state.” At least 10 other countries in the region, plus the European Union, are weighing similar limits.
Instagram and Facebook each have more than 400 million users in India, more than any other country, according to DataReportal, a library of reports on global digital behavior. Snap Inc.'s Snapchat has more than 200 million on its platform there, making India its largest market by users, while X has more than 20 million users, the data shows.
“This has now been accepted by many countries - that age-based regulations have to be there,” Vaishnaw said.
Any move to limit social media access to hundreds of millions of India's youngsters would be a blow to companies like Meta Platforms Inc.'s Instagram and Facebook, or Elon Musk's X. India is also an important data source for AI modeling.
The tech companies have pushed back on the bans, calling them blunt instruments that are difficult to enforce and could lead to other problems, such as driving users to less legitimate services.
Vaishnaw's remarks were made during India's largest gathering on artificial intelligence and is part of a wider move to crack down on potential harms from major technology companies. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has stepped up its oversight of online content and discourse, passing strict laws that put the onus of identification, removal and enforcement on tech firms. The country is also tightening rules to target artificially generated and manipulated posts.
Separately, Spain's Sanchez also called on Tuesday for the country's prosecutor to investigate X, TikTok and Meta over alleged publication of child sexual abuse material. “These platforms are jeopardizing the mental health, dignity, and rights of our children,” Sanchez said in a post on X Tuesday as he announced the request. “The State cannot allow this. The impunity of these giants must end.”
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