K'taka, Andhra to ban social media for young teens

Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh on Friday announced ban on use of social media for young children, becoming the first in India to join global calls for more scrutiny of minors’ digital usage.

- Agencies

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Friday announced the ban on use of social media for those under the age of 16 years, while presenting the state budget.

“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,” Siddaramaiah said. However, he did not elaborate on how this will be implemented.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday said social media will be prohibited for children below 13 years of age within the next 90 days in the state.

Addressing the assembly, the Chief Minister said they are actively debating whether to extend this ban to children between 13 and 16 years of age.