New Digital Data Protection Rules Propose Parental Consent For Children's Social Media Accounts

A child will require the consent of an adult to open social media accounts under the proposed draft rules for the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025.

According to the draft, the adult providing consent may be either a parent or a guardian.

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The Centre released the draft rules on Friday, inviting the public to submit objections and suggestions. Feedback can be provided on mygov.in, and the draft rules will be reviewed after 18 February, as noted in a notification by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Friday.

The draft states that the consent provided for a child to open social media accounts must be "verifiable". It also specifies that the processing of personal data for a child or a person with a disability will only take place with such "verifiable" consent.

"A data fiduciary shall adopt appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure that verifiable consent of the parent is obtained before the processing of any personal data of a child and shall observe due diligence, for checking that the individual identifying herself as the parent is an adult who is identifiable if required in connection with compliance with any law for the time being in force in India...," the draft rules outline.

Key features of the draft include enhanced consumer control over data, the right for users to demand the deletion of their data, increased transparency requirements for companies handling personal data, the right for individuals to inquire about the purpose of data collection, and penalties of up to ₹250 crore for data breaches.

The draft defines an "e-commerce entity" as any person who owns, operates, or manages a digital facility or platform for e-commerce as described in the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. However, it excludes sellers offering goods or services for sale on a marketplace e-commerce entity, as outlined in the same Act.

An "online gaming intermediary" refers to any intermediary that enables users of its computer resources to access one or more online games, while a "social media intermediary" is defined as per the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000) as an intermediary that primarily or exclusively facilitates online interaction between two or more users, allowing them to create, upload, share, disseminate, modify, or access information via its services.