Andhra Pradesh preparing law to regulate children's social media access

In a policy move aimed at safeguarding children in the digital ecosystem, Andhra Pradesh Minister for Education, Information Technology and Electronics Nara Lokesh has directed officials to prepare a comprehensive regulatory framework to restrict access to social media for children below 13 years and to design an age-appropriate digital environment for teenagers. The minister, while chairing a high-level Group of Ministers (GoM) meeting with senior officials called for the drafting of legislation that balances digital access with child safety, creativity, and mental well-being.

Chairing a high-level Group of Ministers (GoM) meeting with senior officials and representatives from leading social media platforms, Minister Lokesh emphasized the need for a graded, age-based content access system, particularly for users aged between 13 to 16 years, ensuring that children are not exposed to harmful or inappropriate content.

An official statement stated that the proposed framework aims to align Andhra Pradesh with emerging global standards in digital child protection. Officials have been tasked with studying best practices from countries such as Singapore, Australia, and Denmark to build a robust legal and technological framework tailored to India's needs.

As part of enforcement architecture, the state government is evaluating the use of secure age-verification mechanisms, including "age tokens" integrated with DigiLocker.

This could enable social media platforms to authenticate user age without compromising privacy, a critical step toward implementing age restrictions at scale.