Supreme Court suggests 'child mode' for children's social media accounts instead of bans, warns age verification risks mass data collection

The Supreme Court has suggested that social media platforms offer a dedicated 'child mode' for children's accounts, with private-by-default settings, instead of denying children internet access. A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran, ruling on a petition by the NGO Just Rights for Children Alliance on child sexual exploitation material online, said blanket bans would mistake the victim for the problem and push children toward unregulated platforms. The court also cautioned that enforcing age verification would require continuous collection and monitoring of every user's sensitive data, creating serious surveillance and misuse risks. NDTV Profit (Ndtvprofit)

• The Supreme Court has suggested that social media platforms offer a dedicated 'child mode' for children's accounts, with private-by-default settings, instead of denying children internet access.
• A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran, ruling on a petition by the NGO Just Rights for Children Alliance on child sexual exploitation material online, said blanket bans would mistake the victim for the p
• The court also cautioned that enforcing age verification would require continuous collection and monitoring of every user's sensitive data, creating serious surveillance and misuse risks.