India could be the next major test case for age-based social media bans, as countries consider Australia-style restrictions on children’s access to platforms amid a growing global regulatory push.
The push has begun at the state level, with the western state of Goa the latest to learn whether to ban children under 16 from social media platforms. “Australia has introduced a law that guarantees the ban on social media for children under the age of 16,” said Goa IT Minister Rohan Khaunte this week. “The people of our department have withdrawn the paper. We learned, if possible, (will) apply the same restrictions to children under the age of 16 for the use of social media.
Like Goa, the southern state of Andhra Pradesh is also considering adopting the Australian approach. Earlier this month, the country’s IT and education minister, Nara Lokesh, propose a movesaid officials were studying Australian law.
“I believe we need to enact a strong law,” Lokesh said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
The Andhra Pradesh government has made a group of ministers to study whether limiting or banning minors’ access to social media platforms would be legal and practical. The panel was chaired by Lokesh and included key cabinet ministers.
In addition to the two Indian states, the issue has also attracted the attention of the courts, with the Madras High Court. urged India’s federal government in December to consider Australian-style restrictions, showing how concerns about children’s online safety have fueled regulatory debates that extend beyond the legislature.
Any move to limit children’s access to social media in India would carry significant implications for global tech companies, for which the South Asian country is a critical growth market. Government estimates put India’s internet user base at more than 1 billionwith many users coming online at a young age, making the country the center of users and advertising strategies of platforms such as Meta, Google, and X.
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A spokesperson for Meta said the company shares the lawmakers’ goal of creating a “safe and positive online experience for young people,” but said parents – rather than the government – should decide what apps teenagers use. “Governments considering bans must be careful not to push teens into less secure, unregulated sites, or outbound experiences that bypass important protections – like the standard protections offered on Instagram Teen Accounts,” a spokesperson said.
graduate through the Online Safety (Social Media Minimum Age) Amendment Act 2024 and approved by parliament in November 2024 before being implemented in December 2025, the ban on social media under the age of 16 in Australia has opened up enforcement challenges for platforms.
Last year, Meta since notification Australian teenagers whose accounts will be closed, mark the it is difficult to accurately determine the age of a userespecially when people are not always honest at sign-up. Law, that too including Twitch but exempted Pinterest, Discord, GitHub, Roblox, and Steam, among others, has reignited concerns about the digital age-verification system, which presents privacy and security risks because sensitive data they require.
Australia’s move is being watched closely beyond India, with governments in countries such as Denmark, France, and Spainalso Indonesia and Malaysia learn the same limits.
Kazim Rizvi, founding director of New Delhi-based think tank The Dialogue, told TechCrunch that while there is growing pressure to regulate children’s use of social media, internet governance is under federal law, meaning states cannot amend national statutes such as the Information Technology Act or the Digital Personal Data Protection Act. He added that some states, including Andhra Pradesh, may now seek the central government’s support – an uncertain outcome.
Aprajita Rana, a partner at corporate law firm AZB & Partners, echoed Rizvi’s views on state-level action restrictions, saying that while Australian-style bans would not have been implemented earlier in a market the size of India, blanket restrictions risked pushing children away from regulated platforms into unmonitored online spaces, potentially undermining their potential goals.
India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, passed in August 2023, including special protections for children’s data, requiring verifiable parental consent before processing personal data of individuals under the age of 18 and prohibiting tracking, behavioral monitoring, and advertising targeted at minors. However, the operational rules for this the provision is being phased in until 2027giving the platform time to implement the necessary protections.
Google, Snap, and X did not respond to requests for comment. India’s IT ministry also did not respond when contacted.