The Supreme Court on Friday sought the Centre’s response to a public interest litigation filed by an Indore-based school seeking a comprehensive legal framework to protect children from the potential harms of social media, including a proposed ban on access for children below a prescribed age.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued notice on the petition filed by Emerald Heights International School and its Director, Siddharth Singh. The plea seeks directions to the Union government and relevant authorities to formulate and implement enforceable safeguards governing minors’ use of social media platforms.
The petition has named the Centre, the Ministries of Women and Child Development and Law and Justice, and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) as respondents. The matter has been listed for further hearing on December 7.
The petitioners have urged the Court to establish a dedicated regulatory regime addressing the risks children face on digital platforms. Alternatively, they have sought a prohibition on social media use by children below a specified age, alongside enforceable age-based restrictions on the creation, operation and maintenance of accounts by minors.
The plea identifies a range of concerns associated with children’s online activity, including cyberbullying, online grooming, sexual exploitation, exposure to age-inappropriate material and compulsive platform use. It also flags possible consequences for children’s mental health, such as anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, body-image dissatisfaction and disordered eating.
According to the petition, the risks extend beyond exposure to harmful content. It raises concerns about coercion involving intimate images, access to violent or sexually explicit material, exposure to content relating to self-harm and suicide, behavioural profiling and digital design features that encourage prolonged or compulsive engagement.
The petitioners contend that these dangers may remain undetected until substantial harm has occurred, making voluntary safeguards adopted by technology companies and parental supervision alone inadequate to ensure children’s safety.
The plea further invokes constitutional protections, including the rights to equality, life and personal liberty, and education. It argues that the State has a responsibility to protect children from foreseeable online harms and that the absence of an effective regulatory mechanism undermines that obligation.
The petition has been filed through Advocate Vaibhav Choudhary and drawn by advocates Khushbu Jain, Mayank Singh Rawat and Zaid Ahmed.
The latest petition comes amid wider scrutiny of children’s access to social media. In a separate matter filed by the NGO Just Rights for Children Alliance, the Supreme Court had earlier sought the Centre’s response to a plea seeking safeguards against minors independently creating and maintaining social media accounts. During those proceedings, the Court had emphasised the need for protective measures in the digital environment.
The present proceedings will examine the school’s request for a comprehensive regulatory framework or age-based restrictions. The Court has not yet ruled on the merits of the petition or ordered a ban on children’s social media use.
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