The Andhra Pradesh government is drafting a bill that seeks to provide a comprehensive regulatory framework to restrict access to social media for children below the age of 13 and design a teenager-friendly digital environment, officials said on Friday.
A group of ministers headed by state Education and IT Minister Nara Lokesh, who met in Amaravati on Thursday evening, discussed points of the draft legislation that balances digital access with child safety, creativity and mental well-being.
An official statement said the group of ministers stressed the need for age-graded content access on social media for users aged 13 to 16, ensuring that children are not exposed to harmful or inappropriate content.
“The proposed legislative framework aims to align Andhra Pradesh with emerging global standards in the field of digital child protection,” the statement said.
Lokesh asked the officials to study best practices from countries like Singapore, Australia and Denmark to build a robust legal and technological framework tailored to India’s needs.
As part of the implementation architecture, the government is evaluating the use of secure age verification mechanisms, including “age codes” integrated with DigiLocker. This could enable platforms to verify a user’s age without compromising privacy, a crucial step towards implementing age restrictions on a large scale.
Lokesh said strict action must be taken against individuals who spread offensive or hateful content, especially those targeting women. He called for strengthening enforcement under existing IT laws, including Section 46 of the IT Act and appointing judicial authorities as soon as possible.
Realizing that regulation alone is insufficient, the group of ministers proposed that the government launch large-scale awareness initiatives across the state, including introducing digital safety education during “No Bag Day” in schools, holding awareness sessions for parents and students during biannual parent-teacher conferences; and reaching out to women through self-help groups on online safety and cyber risks.
“The initiative aims to build digital literacy alongside regulatory safeguards, ensuring a comprehensive approach to children’s safety,” the statement said.
Representatives of the major social media platforms briefed the group of ministers on existing safeguards for restricting sensitive content and dealing with user complaints. They expressed their readiness to cooperate closely with the Andhra Pradesh government in implementing these measures.
“The state will also seek public feedback and make recommendations to the Center on aspects that fall within the central legislative domain, indicating a possible path towards policy evolution at the national level,” the statement said.
The meeting was attended by Ministers Vanjalapudi Anitha, Nadendla Manohar and Y Satyakumar Yadav, along with senior officials from the Department of Public Administration, Information and Public Relations, Cyber Crime and AP Digital Corporation.
Representatives from global and local platforms, including Natasha Jog from Meta, Mira Swaminathan from Google, Japreet Grewal from X, Sagar Deoskar from Snapchat, Tamoghna Goswami from ShareChat, and Ramanujan Chakravarthy from Josh, participated in the meeting.
