The Indian state of Karnataka indicates its intention to ban social media for those under the age of 16

The Indian state of Karnataka, home to the tech city of Bengaluru, plans to ban children under 16 from using social media, joining a growing global movement aimed at limiting young people’s access to online platforms despite questions about implementation and effectiveness.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced the decision during his state budget speech on Friday. He said: “To prevent the negative effects on children of using mobile phones, the use of social media will be prohibited for children under the age of 16.” He did not share details about how the restrictions would be implemented.

The Karnataka state government did not hold consultations on the ban before this announcement, two sources at separate technology companies told TechCrunch.

Governments around the world are moving to restrict children’s access to social media after years of concerns about how platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram affect young users and vulnerable people. Australia became the first country to ban social media for teenagers last December, and a slew of other countries are following similar plans.

Indonesia said on Friday it would restrict access to “high-risk platforms” such as YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X and Roblox to users under 16 years old. Malaysia also indicated that it is considering similar measures.

This debate has gained momentum at the national level in India, with officials in the Indian states of Goa and Andhra Pradesh recently saying they are considering imposing similar restrictions. In December, the Madras High Court urged the federal government to consider imposing Australia-style restrictions on children’s use of social media, and a month later, India’s chief economic adviser, V. Anantha Nageswaran, imposed age-based restrictions on access to social media platforms which he described as “predatory”.

A Meta spokesperson told TechCrunch that the company supports measures that give parents greater control over teens’ app use, but warned against broad social media bans.

“Governments considering bans should be careful not to push teens toward less safe or unregulated sites, or logout experiences that bypass important protections — like the default safeguards we offer on teens’ Instagram accounts,” the spokesperson said.

Meta said she would abide by bans where they are imposed, but said that since teens use about 40 apps a week on average, restrictions targeting only a few platforms would not necessarily improve safety.

Legal experts have questioned whether an Indian state has the authority to impose such restrictions. Aparajita Bharti, co-founder of technology and public policy consulting firm The Quantum Hub, said the announcement seemed more like a statement of intent than a concrete policy proposal.

“It is unclear whether the Karnataka government has the legislative authority to take such measures,” Bharti told TechCrunch. She added that policymakers should take into account India’s unique challenges – such as the use of shared devices and the digital divide – rather than “blindly following” models adopted in Western countries.

She added that the effectiveness of the Australian ban remains uncertain, and broader online safety approaches may be needed.

General regulations on internet policies largely fall under India’s federal jurisdiction, which could limit the ability of individual states to impose such bans, said Kazim Rizvi, founding director of the New Delhi-based think tank The Dialogue.

“The state can certainly articulate the policy goal of child safety, but a binding and targeted ban would be very difficult for the state to sustain on its own without running into central state and constitutional questions,” he said.

Digital rights advocates have raised concerns about sweeping restrictions on children’s access to social media. In response to the Karnataka government’s proposal, the Internet Freedom Foundation said such measures raise questions about implementation and may require age verification systems that create new risks to users’ privacy.

The group also warned that widespread bans threaten to restrict children’s access to information and expression, and may deepen India’s digital gender divide if families use such measures to keep girls offline.

“Children’s online safety requires serious, evidence-based policy, not headline-based bans,” the group said.

The Indian Ministry of Information Technology and the Karnataka Chief Minister’s Office did not respond to requests for comment on the proposal. Google, Snap, and X also did not respond to requests for comment.