Bengaluru: Karnataka will ban social media access for children under 16 to prevent “adverse effects” of its increasing usage, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced Friday, though the state government is yet to decide how it will enforce the restriction.

If implemented, Karnataka will become the first Indian state to impose such a ban. Last year, Andhra Pradesh had it was considering a ban on social media for under-16s, after Australia became the first country to implement the restriction for adolescents.

Siddaramaiah made the announcement while declaring 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.

But the government acknowledged it was yet to draw out details on implementation of the ban.

“Implementing it is always a challenge,” Labour Minister Santosh Lad told reporters in Bengaluru.

Monitoring compliance independently was difficult, he added, and the state would need support from educational institutions and the wider society to make it work.

Karnataka’s proposal mirrors steps taken by Australia, which passed the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 late last year—legislation that places the enforcement burden on tech platforms rather than on parents or children. Companies that breach the law face fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars. Enforcement mechanisms include age assurance technologies, facial and voice recognition, and ID proofs.

Since then, several other countries have announced similar restrictions, including the UK, Denmark and Malaysia.

But the reliability of such technologies remains contested. A trial by an independent provider found that facial assessment technology was least reliable for teenagers — the very demographic the law is designed to protect.

(Edited by Prerna Madan)

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