Supreme Court Seeks Centre and NCPCR Replies on Plea for National Framework to Shield Children from Social Media Harms
The Supreme Court has asked the Centre and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to respond to a public interest litigation seeking a comprehensive, enforceable national framework to protect children from the risks of social media platforms.
A Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued notices to the Ministries of Women and Child Development and Law and Justice, and the NCPCR. The plea was filed by Emerald Heights International School, an Indore-based school, and its director of academics, Siddharth Singh Girnar, through advocate Vaibhav Choudhary. The Bench tagged the matter with a pending petition and listed it for hearing on December 7.
The plea argues that the continuing failure of the authorities to protect children from foreseeable risks amounts to arbitrary and unreasonable conduct that violates Articles 14, 15(3), 21 and 21A of the Constitution. It lists those risks as grooming, sexual exploitation, cyber-bullying, exposure to age-inappropriate and harmful content, behavioural profiling, and compulsive-use design, among other harms linked to commercial social media platforms.
It calls for mandatory age verification, age-appropriate access, verifiable parental consent, and stronger safeguards against cyberbullying, sexual exploitation, harmful content and excessive platform use. It also seeks a direction to the Centre to frame, notify and operationalise a dedicated and enforceable regulatory framework for children's protection.
The petitioner asks for a writ of mandamus directing the Centre to prohibit social media use by children below a prescribed age, and to regulate use by those above that age as found appropriate. It further seeks age-based restrictions on the creation, maintenance and use of accounts by children on designated platforms.
The school cited instances of underage children operating social media accounts, being contacted by strangers, facing cyber-bullying and harassment, and experiencing sleep deprivation and reduced concentration after prolonged mobile phone use. It also pointed to parental concerns over excessive screen time, anxiety about online popularity, body-image issues, social withdrawal, and declining interest in studies and outdoor activities.
According to the plea, schools and parents cannot tackle the problem on their own because the risks stem not only from the content available online but also from the design and operation of platforms that encourage prolonged engagement. Children, it said, are particularly vulnerable to grooming, sexual exploitation, blackmail, impersonation, circulation of private images, and exposure to violent, sexually explicit or self-harm-related material.
Source: Verdictum