A law professor has approached the Delhi High Court seeking regulatory measures against social media features that allegedly encourage excessive and addictive use, particularly among children and young people.
The plea is listed before a Bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia. The public interest litigation has been filed by Dr. Vikas Kathuria, a law professor at BML Munjal University, against the Union government and several major technology companies, including Meta, Google, Telegram, X and Snapchat.
The petition focuses on the design and architecture of social media platforms, rather than merely the content hosted on them. It alleges that features such as infinite scrolling, autoplay, personalised algorithmic feeds, repeated notifications and engagement indicators such as “likes” are designed to capture users’ attention and keep them engaged for longer periods.
According to the petitioner, such features are developed primarily to maximise user engagement and advertising revenue, without adequately accounting for their potential psychological and physiological effects. The plea raises particular concerns over prolonged social media exposure and its alleged impact on the mental health, well-being and development of children and young persons.
The petitioner has sought directions to the Centre to constitute an expert committee to examine the design features used by social media platforms and recommend suitable regulatory measures. The plea also seeks regulation, restriction or prohibition of features found to encourage addictive patterns of use.
Among the other reliefs sought is the establishment of a mental health redressal fund to address the alleged psychological consequences associated with excessive social media use.
The petitioner has further sought compensation from Meta, Google, Telegram, X and Snapchat, alleging that their platform designs contribute to addiction and mental health concerns. The allegations are yet to be examined and adjudicated by the High Court.
The PIL comes amid increasing debate over the responsibility of technology companies for user welfare and whether existing legal safeguards are sufficient to address potentially addictive features built into digital platforms.
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