Karnataka budget: Siddaramaiah announces social media ban for children below 16 years

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday announced a ban on use of social media for those under the age of 16 years, aimed at preventing its adverse effects on children.

Though a cross-section of parents welcomed the move, they are wary of the practicality of its implementation.

“With the objective of preventing adverse effects of increasing mobile usage on children, usage of social media will be banned for children under the age of 16,” Siddaramaiah said while presenting the state Budget for 2026-27 here.

However, he did not elaborate on how this would be implemented.

In January, Karnataka Minister for Electronics, IT/BT Priyank Kharge had informed the Legislative Assembly that the state government was holding consultations regarding measures to be put in place for responsible use of artificial intelligence and social media, especially among children.

The central government’s Economic Survey tabled in Parliament in January this year said age-based access to online platforms should be considered while also cutting down online teaching to avoid digital addiction.

Manohar N H, a resident of Jalahalli in Bengaluru who has two school-going children - a 16-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl - said that restricting social media for children below 16 may be good in some ways, but implementing it would be difficult.

“These days, teaching in many schools and colleges happens through apps. For instance, SSLC and PUC students - especially those in second PUC - already rely heavily on apps for classes and communication. Controlling social media use will be very challenging, particularly in government schools and colleges. The rule may be introduced, but I doubt it will succeed; the success rate may be only around 10 per cent,” he said.

Appreciating the move, Dr Saritha Nagaraj, Consultant-Psychology and Child Development, Motherhood Hospital here said with this the risk of poor mental health among children and teenagers - including symptoms of depression, anxiety, poor sleep, and body image issues arising from unhealthy comparisons, which can further lead to disordered eating - would be reduced.

“Their cognitive performance and emotional regulation are also likely to improve. Exposure to dangerous content will decrease, and this could help improve attention span as well as academic performance,” she added.

Dr Rakshay Shetty, Clinical Director, Pediatric Services Head, Pediatric Intensive Care Services, Rainbow Children’s Hospital said that while there were a lot of disadvantages of excess use of mobile devices in children, considering its ill-effects on their psychology, at the same time it provides a lot of practical utility for parents, teachers and children.

“We need to look at a balanced solution because a blanket ban can be counterproductive since implementing it is not practical and it might remain like a paper tiger where there is a rule but no one follows it. Instead, giving guidelines on how to practically use mobile devices and limit their excess use would be more practical,” he said.

More than the government, the role of parents is important in monitoring children, understanding the harms of excess mobile use, cyber bullying and addiction to online games, and protecting them, he added.

BJP Rajya Sabha MP Lahar Singh Siroya, however, welcomed the move in a social media post on X saying he had raised this issue via a special mention in parliament.

“Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi had also spoken about securing the interest of our younger generations at the AI summit, recently. I had further asked for restrictions on smartphone use among children in my parliament speech. I hope this too will be looked into seriously,” he said.

In 2025, Australia became the first country to ban social media for children under 16 by blocking access to platforms including TikTok, YouTube and Instagram and Facebook.