Delhi High Court's Justice Tejas Karia Recuses From Hearing PIL To Restrict Social Media Access For Children Below 13 Years

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed before the Delhi High Court seeking issuance of guidelines or enactment of a legislation to protect children under the age of 13 years by imposing restrictions on their access to social media platforms and to regulate the content for minors from the age of 13 years to 16 years.

The matter was listed for hearing today before a division bench comprising Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia. However, the latter recused.

The matter is now listed before another bench on August 05.

The plea seeks a prohibition on social media use by children aged 16 years and below, coupled with mandatory age-verification mechanisms and overnight curfews.

The petition has been filed by one Kirti Dua, a mother of a three-year-old child, and Dr. Sharad Gupta, a paediatrician.

The respondents named in the plea are Union Government through the Ministries of Electronics and Information Technology, Women and Child Development, Education and Health, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and social media platforms Meta, Google, Telegram, Snap and X Corp.

According to the petition, despite the existence of the Information Technology Act, the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the POCSO Act, harmful content remains easily accessible to children due to weak implementation of existing laws and inadequate safeguards adopted by social media platforms.

The petitioners contend that unrestricted access to social media has led to increasing digital addiction among children, adversely affecting their mental, emotional and physical well-being.

As per the petitioners, the alleged failure of the authorities to adequately regulate such platforms infringes the fundamental right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India and is inconsistent with the State's obligation to protect minor children.

The PIL thus seeks directions to the Union Government to formulate guidelines and regulations, and to consider enacting a central legislation restricting children aged 16 years and below from accessing harmful content on social media.

It further seeks directions to social media platforms to implement robust age-verification systems and strictly enforce child safety policies before allowing users to access their platforms.

“What India needs, therefore, is strict guidelines, regulations, and consideration of a properly codified legislative instrument with binding force one that remedies these defects and ensures social media platforms are held accountable for any violation,” the plea states.

Title: KIRTI DUA & ANR v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS