Ram Gopal Varma slams calls to ban social media for minors after Ghaziabad sisters’ suicide tragedy

Following the suicide of three sisters, the issue of social media access for minors has resurfaced. Ram Gopal Varma has criticised proposed bans in a new post.

The alleged suicide of three minor sisters in Ghaziabad on February 4 has reignited a nationwide debate on digital addiction, prompting renewed calls to restrict or ban social media access for minors in India. As demands for tighter regulation grow, filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has strongly opposed the idea of banning social media for children under 16, arguing that such measures could harm young people more than protect them in today’s information-driven world.

The suicide of three sisters has reignited discussions on social media restrictions for minors. Ram Gopal Varma criticised these proposed bans, emphasising that they may impede children's development.

Ram Gopal Varma rejects social media ban

On Monday, Ram took to his social media and posted a detailed note titled “BAN THE BANNERS". Ram said that well-intentioned restrictions risk cutting children off from critical platforms that shape modern learning, skills development, and global connectivity. He argued that limiting access could leave Indian children at a disadvantage in a hyper-competitive global economy.

Ram wrote, "The core problem with banning social media to protect children under 16 from so-called offensive content also will handicap them in today’s hyper-competitive global information economy. It’s foolish to think social media is just a frivolous distraction because in today’s times, it’s the primary pipeline for real-time knowledge, skills, and networks that determine who gets ahead. Kids in countries without bans will gain constant exposure to cutting-edge learning resources like YouTube tutorials, Reddit threads, TikTok explainers, and global forums that teach coding, languages, entrepreneurship, science, and current events faster and more engagingly than traditional classrooms."

RGV says banning will create inequality

"Instant access to diverse perspectives, breaking news, and opportunities that kids in restricted countries only encounter later, if at all, through much slower and curated channels, will create a stark competitive inequality. A 14 year-old in a non banning country builds an intuitive mastery of information flows, builds online communities, experiments with ideas, and stays ahead of a counterpart in a banning country like Australia where the kids will miss the informal education, the discoveries, and the early digital social capital that will compound over time into better education outcomes, career edges, and innovative thinking," he added.

‘Banning access will not eliminate risks'

While acknowledging concerns about harmful content, he argued that bans misunderstand how the modern world operates.

"The 'protection' rationale of banning sounds noble, but it ignores how the modern world actually works. Information speed is now a decisive factor in both personal and national success. Banning access will not eliminate risks .. it simply outsources the information advantage to children elsewhere, widening the very inequalities governments claim to care about. Kids will still encounter the world eventually, but those denied early, guided exposure risk entering it less prepared, less adaptable, and less informed than the unrestricted," Ram wrote.

"In an era where knowledge compounds exponentially online, these bans don’t safeguard childhood but they will create a generation of digital latecomers, structurally behind in the global race for ideas, skills, and opportunities. The countries that keep access open are effectively giving their youth a powerful head start. The “offensive content” excuse, while real in isolated cases, pales against the systemic cost of information deprivation in a competitive world . This should be a critical warning about trading long-term capability for short-term safety procedures," Ram concluded.

According to police in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, three young sisters allegedly died by suicide after jumping from the ninth floor of their apartment earlier this week. Police told news agency PTI that the three girls who died were depressed after their father confiscated their mobile phones, fearing they were overly obsessed with Korean culture.