Debate Over Teen Social Media Use Grows in Key Tech Market India

Officials in India are publicly debating age restrictions for accessing social media, a potential fresh challenge to Big Tech in a massive market for users as global debate grows over online harms to children.

Parliamentarian Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu, whose party is aligned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s, plans to introduce a private member’s bill in the coming months barring children under 16 from maintaining social media accounts. The aim is to ensure data privacy and protect children and adolescents from exploitation, Devarayalu said in an interview.

Such bills don’t represent government policy and typically don’t become laws, but ...