Andhra Pradesh to go Australia way? Government forms panel to study social media curbs for children under 16

The Australian government has brought out legislation that would set an age limit of 16 years for children to start using social media.

The Andhra Pradesh government on Friday formed a committee that includes a group of ministers to study the possibility of restricting or fully banning access to certain social media platforms for children below 16 years.

State Home Minister Vangalapudi Anitha said the committee will be headed by IT Minister Nara Lokesh. It also includes herself and Health Minister Satya Kumar, who will study models being followed by various state governments and countries so that the best model can be adopted.

Most recently, the Australian government passed a law that set an age limit of 16 years for children to start using social media. Under the model, platforms will be responsible for ensuring compliance, while parents and children do not face any punitive measures.

"Not only the Australian model, we are studying various models being implemented in the entire country and also worldwide. We will get a report on how to control social media abuse and also how far the state can implement it," Anita told PTI.

The minister added that the recommendations from the report will also be shared with the Centre.

Taking the example of Facebook, the minister said some of the social media platforms, though they ask the age of the user, they would not check the authentication of the date of birth entered on the site.

"Either a ban or restriction. How to control it is the main task," she said.

"What we feel is these social media platforms should ask the user to upload age proof documents so that their authenticity is verified," she said, adding that these are some of the suggestions that came up during the earlier discussions.

The GoM is expected to submit its recommendations in a month after discussing it with Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

According to reports, Lokesh revealed that the government is mulling restricting sage of social media by children below 16 years of age while he was at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The statement was welcomed by the ruling Telugu Desam Party.