Fix Age Limit of 21 for Social Media Use, Karnataka HC to Center

New Delhi: While smartphone addiction is on the rise among youngsters, the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday proposed the Central government to contemplate establishing a minimum age requirement for accessing social media, aiming to restrict usage by minors.

During the discussion in detail on the potential hazards of exposure of children to social media, a bench comprising Justices G. Narender and Vijaykumar A. Patil recommended this age restrictive measure. The Court recommended either implementing a ban on social media or setting a minimum age of 21 for users, highlighting concerns about the addictive nature of these platforms for school-going children. The court questioned the maturity of these young social media users at the age of 17 or 18 when compared to the voting age of 21.

These comments were made during the concluding part of the hearing concerning an appeal by X Corp (previously known as Twitter) related to the Centre’s directives to block specific tweets and accounts in 2021 and 2022.