Bring in regulatory curbs on social media use by minors: Goa to Centre

Panaji: The IT department has decided to formulate a policy document regarding curbs on the use of social media platforms by minors under the age of 16. Recognising that imposing social media restrictions falls in the domain of the Centre, IT minister Rohan Khaunte said that the state will submit the recommendations to Union govt.

Khaunte said that the department constituted a committee to study the impact of social media platforms on minors and the possible regulatory safeguards that can be put in place. Khaunte chaired the first meeting of the committee, where representatives from the industry, academia and department officials were present.


“Though the subject falls under central govt, state is examining psychological, social and cybersecurity risks, while ensuring educational tools like AI are not affected. The draft recommendations will be reviewed next month and submitted to chief minister Pramod Sawant before being sent to the Union ministry,” said the IT minister.

Stakeholders highlighted emerging concerns such as rising digital dependency, reduced attention spans, cyberbullying and access to inappropriate online content. A concept note was presented outlining regulatory measures adopted in other countries. It was noted that there is currently no single comprehensive framework in place globally to address these concerns.

Several suggestions were put forward during the meeting, including the introduction of parental controls and application-level filters, restrictions on the use of mobile phones in schools, awareness programmes for parents and the need to collect data on the social media platforms most used by children in the state. It was also emphasised that social media platform owners must bear the responsibility of implementing a technological framework to restrict access for children below the age of 16.

SP (crime) Rahul Gupta said that over the past two years, six cases involving children as victims of cyberbullying and related offences, including photo morphing, were reported. Representatives from industry associations suggested collaborating with tech companies to explore solutions such as age-detection technologies.

“Children today are often introduced to mobile phones at a very young age, which can eventually develop into an addiction. It is therefore important for parents to take responsibility. Goa needs to strike a balance between enabling access to educational digital tools while identifying and regulating platforms that may be detrimental to children,” said Khaunte.