Andhra Pradesh Govt Forms Committee To Study Social Media Ban Or Curbs For Children Below 16

Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh government has appointed a committee comprising a group of ministers to study the possibility of restricting or banning access to certain social media platforms for children below 16 years, state Home Minister Vangalapudi Anitha said on Friday.

She also said the Group of Ministers (GoM), headed by IT Minister Nara Lokesh and comprising members, including herself and Health Minister Satya Kumar, will study models being followed by various state governments and countries so that the best model can be adopted.

The Australian government has brought out legislation that would set an age limit of 16 years for children to start using social media, and hold platforms responsible for ensuring compliance.

"Not only the Australian model, we are studying various models being implemented in the entire country and also worldwide. We will get a report on how to control social media abuse and also how far the state can implement it," Anita told PTI.

She further said the report, which will have some recommendations, would be shared with the central government.

"Either a ban or restriction. How to control it is the main task," she said.

Taking the example of Facebook, the minister said some of the social media platforms, though they ask the age of the user, they would not check the authentication of the date of birth entered on the site.

"What we feel is these social media platforms should ask the user to upload age proof documents so that their authenticity is verified," she opined, saying that these are some of the suggestions that came up during the earlier discussions.

The GoM is expected to submit its recommendations in a month after discussing it with Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, she added.

Minister Lokesh in Davos reportedly said the government is mulling restricting usage of social media by children below 16 years of age. The statement was welcomed by the ruling Telugu Desam Party.

(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)