Despite the Supreme Court’s recent order against a blanket social media ban and age-based restrictions, the Karnataka state government has said it will seek the Centre’s recommendations on restricting or banning social media access for children, according to a Deccan Herald report. Unnamed state officials reportedly said that a social media ban “comes under the Centre’s domain.”
The state government has apparently realised that it can enforce restrictions only on devices under its control, not on all devices, such as those owned by parents. In this context, Karnataka’s Department of School Education & Literacy is likely to ask the state Cabinet to make recommendations next month, the report said.
“At the state-level, we will regulate the usage of computers in schools and colleges. A complete social media ban is a larger issue on which the Centre has to take a decision. This is a subject that comes under the Centre’s domain.” – Anonymous govt official.
What did the Supreme Court say about social media bans and restrictions? The Supreme Court’s October 15 order, which Karnataka’s Additional Chief Secretary of School Education & Literacy, Rashmi V Mahesh, referred to, also discussed age-based restrictions on social media. As MediaNama reported, the bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K.V. Chandran made the following two points about social media bans and restrictions:
“…we have no hesitation in saying that the right to access and use the internet is a fundamental right of every individual under Article 21 read with Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. Our children, irrespective of their age, enjoy the same rights, and to deny the same altogether would be as absurd as saying children below a certain age do not have a conscience worth protecting or a freedom of speech worth expressing. The safety of our children and their freedom are not at odds with each other. Our children are entitled to both.
The means by which measures relating to age-based restrictions are achieved are themselves an overreach. Such processes, inevitably, always require identifying and ascertaining the age of each and every user, continuous collection and monitoring of sensitive data and an overall disproportionate risk of misuse and surveillance, the kind which finds no place within the right to privacy of our people.” – Supreme Court.
How the Karnataka government is approaching a social media ban: In the 2026–27 Budget, then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had said:
“With the objective of preventing adverse effects of increasing mobile usage on children, usage of social media will be banned for children under the age of 16.” – Then Karnataka CM.
At the time of the announcement, as MediaNama reported, neither the government nor any member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) had introduced or presented a draft Bill on the proposed social media ban in the Assembly.
While the then Chief Minister had spoken of a ban, Information Technology Minister Priyank Kharge told Deccan Herald that the government was still in discussions with social media platforms and was possibly exploring algorithm-based regulations.
“We’re trying to see how we can regulate [access]…In Australia and other countries that banned social media, we’ve seen children bypassing the age verification step. So, now, we’re trying to see how algorithms can be regulated.” – Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge
Additional Chief Secretary of School Education & Literacy Rashmi V Mahesh referred to the Supreme Court’s October 15 order without specifically discussing the proposed ban or restrictions. She said the Supreme Court’s judgment “aligns well with the state government’s interventions,” such as the inclusion of computers and artificial intelligence (AI) in its teaching methods.
The age-based approach being considered by the Centre: Days after Karnataka’s announcement, government sources said the Centre was preparing a three-tier framework for children aged 8–12, 12–16, and 16–18, instead of imposing a blanket ban. On August 20, the Delhi High Court declined to order a ban, leaving the matter to the government. In September, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Supreme Court that the Centre would amend the Information Technology Rules to prevent platforms from allowing users under 18 to create accounts.
What makes a state-level social media ban difficult to implement? In an article, MediaNama founder and editor Nikhil Pahwa highlighted the difficulties of implementing a social media ban at the state level.
“The difference between ten years ago and now is that companies do have geolocation data based on IP addresses. But geolocation is largely inaccurate. Sometimes you log in to Gmail in Delhi, and the login confirmation that hits your phone, assumes you’re in Noida or Ghaziabad. In instances where state boundaries are very close, like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, you’re going to create a geolocation conflict. If one state bans and the other doesn’t, how exactly are platforms supposed to enforce that?
Unfortunately, the way regulators think about this is, ‘Our job is to impose a restriction, your job is to implement it, so it’s your problem.’ But it doesn’t work like that, because you’re effectively asking for something that may not be technically feasible. Feasibility should also be taken into consideration when creating law. “ – Nilhil Pahwa
Pahwa also attributed state-level action to the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s (MeitY) inaction.
“There is a trend of states bringing out laws specific to the Internet, and this fragmentation of laws governing the Internet is problematic and because the Internet transcends physical boundaries, and it’s better if the Centre does it…. So States are trying to fill the gap left by MEITY’s abdication of responsibility. The inaction from the Centre nudges the states to act. Expect more state action on Social Media, not less,” he wrote.
Could regulating social media algorithms and design offer an alternative? Kharge’s remark that the state government is now examining how algorithms can be regulated raises a question Pahwa posed in February. “The problem is that instead of regulating the system, governments are regulating access to the system,” Pahwa argued in his criticism of blanket social media bans.
However, neither the Centre nor the state government currently has a framework or policy for regulating social media algorithms to mitigate the risks and harms these platforms pose to children.
“The conversation should move from safety by design to safety by default. All your opt-in options that aren’t privacy-centric should be checked off by default, such as location sharing and content access for under 18s. Safety by design is a good philosophy for a new platform, but it’s time to move to safety by default,” – a speaker at the Medianama event.
Explore MediaNama’s coverage of what experts said about whether changes to social media design could offer an alternative to blanket bans or restrictions.
Explore MediaNama’s coverage of the Delhi and Bengaluru discussions here.
Also Read:
- What young people have to say about social media bans and restrictions
- Issue Brief: Age Verification and Restricting Social Media for Children
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