Goa and Andhra Pradesh weigh Australia-style social media bans

Two Indian states are studying potential bans on social media for children under 16, drawing inspiration from Australia’s legislative approach to children’s online safety. In the western state of Goa, IT minister Rohan Khaunte announced that officials have already pulled the relevant papers and are studying Australia’s law to see if it is possible to implement a similar ban. Meanwhile, in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, IT and education minister Nara Lokesh suggested a similar move, stating at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland that he believes the state needs to create a strong legal enactment.

However, local states face significant constitutional hurdles in enacting these bans. Kazim Rizvi, the founding director of the New Delhi–based think tank The Dialogue, pointed out that internet governance falls under federal law in India. Consequently, individual states cannot unilaterally amend national statutes such as the Information Technology Act or the Digital Personal Data Protection Act—India’s national data privacy law. Rizvi noted that some states are likely to seek the central government’s support for social media bans, though whether they will receive it remains uncertain. India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act was passed in August 2023, with its operational rules scheduled to be phased in through 2027. Corporate law firm AZB & Partners also noted the limits of state-level action, warning that blanket restrictions risk pushing children toward unmonitored online spaces.

The debate comes amid a broader push. Australia’s Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 was approved by parliament in November 2024 and took effect in December 2025. The law has reignited concerns over digital age-verification systems, which present privacy and security risks due to the sensitive data they require. Other nations, including Denmark, France, Spain, Indonesia, and Malaysia, are also studying similar restrictions.

Social media platforms are actively opposing government-mandated bans. A spokesperson for Meta, which operates platforms like Instagram, argued that parents, rather than governments, should make these decisions. “Governments considering bans should be careful not to push teens toward less safe, unregulated sites, or logged-out experiences that bypass important protections — like the default safeguards we offer in Instagram’s Teen Accounts,” the spokesperson said. Meanwhile, judicial pressure is mounting; the Madras High Court urged India’s federal government to consider Australia-style restrictions, highlighting how children’s online safety concerns are driving regulatory debates.

Why it matters

Any move to restrict children’s access to social media in India would carry significant implications for technology companies, for which the South Asian nation is a critical growth market. With an internet user base of more than 1 billion, India is central to the user and advertising strategies of platforms like Meta, Google, and X.