Will India Follow Australia's Under-16 Social Media Ban? PM Modi Drops Hint

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has hailed Australia for banning social media for children below 16.

During his three-day visit to Australia, PM Modi stated that India was "taking lessons from them". He mentioned that its social media regulations to protect young users were setting an important precedent.

Last year, it became the first country to bar teens from using social media platforms like TikTok, X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat. Going by the rules, the platforms have the responsibility to take measures to ensure that under-16 children are prevented from using the platforms.

"The way you are bringing changes in laws related to information technology and social media, and working to protect society, is highly inspiring for the world. We are learning a lot from your efforts and taking many lessons from them," the Indian Prime Minister said at a gathering during the Australia-India Annual Leaders' Summit in Melbourne.

The Prime Minister's remarks are seen a hint of India passing a similar law to protect children from harmful content online. Also, India directed Instagram to remove content promoting child abuse.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) sent a notice to Facebook and Instagram's owner Meta ordering it to take down all content that enables access to child sexual exploitation and abuse material.

The issue came to light after BBC reported Facebook and Instagram had ads for the search terms "rape video" and "child video". The investigation found that the ads led to Telegram channels where illegal content was reportedly being sold, in violation of Meta's Ads policies, which prohibit nudity and sexually explicit content.

Apart from Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, France, Canada, Spain, Denmark,Greece, Germany and a few others countries have either passed legislation or in the process of banning social media for children under 16.

PM Modi Arrives In New Zealand

After the three-day visit to Australia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arrived in New Zealand, during which he will hold talks with his counterpart Christopher Luxon and address the Indian diaspora.

With inputs from agencies