Andhra Pradesh Mulls Australia-Style Social Media Ban for Children Under 16, Citing Addiction and Mental Health Concerns
A day after Andhra Pradesh’s IT and Education Minister Nara Lokesh indicated that the state government was considering an Australia-like law to ban social media access for children below the age of 16, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP)-led government has constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) to study the proposal in detail.
Andhra Pradesh has thus become the first state in India to formally explore such a move.
The GoM will be headed by Lokesh and will include Home Minister Anita Vangalapudi, Health Minister Satya Kumar Yadav, and Information and Public Relations Minister Kolusu Parthasarathi, a government source said on Thursday.
According to officials, the GoM has been tasked with studying and collating data from across the state on cases where children under 16 have either been victims of social media abuse or have themselves been accused of online misconduct.
The findings will form the basis of a policy framework to address what the government sees as a growing social and psychological challenge.
Lessons From Australia: Social Media Addiction and Mental Growth
On the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Lokesh told Bloomberg that the Andhra Pradesh government was closely examining Australia’s decision to ban social media access for children under 16.
“The government is studying Australia’s decision to ban children under the age of 16 from accessing social media.
Youngsters below a certain age should not be on such platforms, as they do not fully understand the content they are exposed to. A strong legal framework may be required to implement the proposal,” Lokesh said.
The Australian ban has been driven by growing concern that social media has become addictive for children and adolescents, emerging as a major stumbling block in their mental and emotional development.
Policymakers there have argued that excessive exposure to social media pressures, online abuse, and algorithm-driven content has distracted children from reading, creative thinking, and holistic learning—leaving many confined to textbooks and screens while drifting away from broader intellectual and emotional engagement.
Legal and Political Hurdles Acknowledged
A senior TDP leader acknowledged that implementing such a law in India would be complex and would require the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the TDP’s ally at the Centre.
“Regulating information technology requires the Centre’s approval as it falls under the IT Act.
Before approaching the Centre, we need to finalise the structure of the proposal at the state level.
Once that is done, we will take it up with the Union government,” the leader said, adding that convincing the Centre was unlikely to be difficult given the alliance.
A senior government official said a detailed meeting would be held after Lokesh returns from Davos to chalk out a clear roadmap for implementing the proposal.
Idea Took Shape During Australia Visit
TDP national spokesperson Deepak Reddy said the idea had taken shape during Lokesh’s five-day visit to Australia in October last year.
While the final modalities would be worked out after his return, Reddy said the minister had given serious thought to the issue.
“Children cannot be exposed to the ills of social media during their formative years. In recent times, social media abuse has increased significantly.
This proposal is aimed at preventing psychological harm and unchecked online attacks,” he said.
Reddy added that the Andhra Pradesh government was not selectively borrowing only the social media ban from Australia.
“We also studied how Australia is successfully skilling its population. We spoke to Australian stakeholders about setting up operations in Andhra Pradesh to help skill our youth. The government intends to adopt global best practices in governance,” he said.
Existing Indian Law and the Gap
At present, India does not have a law that explicitly bans children from using social media platforms.
However, under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, technology companies are required to obtain “verifiable” parental consent before processing the personal data of children.
The law defines a child as anyone below 18 years of age.
The Act also bars companies from processing children’s data if it could harm their well-being and prohibits tracking, behavioural monitoring, or targeted advertising aimed at children.
However, it does not prescribe a specific technical mechanism for enforcing age-based access restrictions.
Australian Law as a Template
Australia’s legislation—the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act—goes much further.
It mandates age-restricted platforms to take “reasonable steps” to identify and deactivate accounts held by under-16 users, prevent them from creating new accounts, and block any workarounds that could bypass age restrictions.
Platforms are also required to have safeguards to correct errors so that no account is unfairly removed.
The Australian government justified the law as essential to protect young people from the pressures, risks, and addictive nature of social media. The move, however, has faced strong opposition from Big Tech companies.
Earlier Push in Parliament
This is not the first time the TDP has raised the issue. During the Winter Session of Parliament last November, the party’s parliamentary floor leader, Lavu Srikrishnadevarayal,u attempted to introduce a Bill seeking age restrictions on social media use.
The matter, however, did not come up for discussion. Sources said he is likely to raise it again during the upcoming Budget Session.
Explaining the rationale behind the proposed Social Media (Age Restrictions and Online Safety) Bill, 2025, Srikrishnadevarayalu said it was necessary to create a safer digital environment for children and to hold social media companies accountable.
Modelled on the Australian law, the Bill seeks mandatory age-verification mechanisms, a ban on accounts for underage users, and immediate, permanent deletion of data collected during age verification to protect children’s privacy.
The Andhra Pradesh government’s move signals a broader national debate on whether unrestricted social media access is undermining the mental growth, reading habits, and emotional well-being of a generation growing up online.
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