a significant move toward digital safety, Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh announced that the state government is considering a ban on social media for children under the age of 16. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Lokesh emphasized that youngsters often lack the maturity to comprehend the harmful or toxic content they encounter online.
To explore this, the government has constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) to study Australia’s recently implemented legislation, which mandates a minimum age of 16 for social media accounts and places the liability on tech companies rather than parents. If enacted, Andhra Pradesh would become the first Indian state to implement such a regulatory framework to protect minors from online abuse and mental health risks.