Children below 13 years may be barred from creating accounts on social media and online gaming platforms without verified parental consent, while platforms could be prohibited from tracking, profiling, or targeting minors with personalised advertising under a proposed private member’s bill that seeks stronger safeguards for minors in digital spaces.
The bill was among two private members’ bills that were scheduled to be introduced in Parliament on Friday but could not be taken up because of repeated adjournments of the House.
The Safeguarding Healthy Internet Environments for Little Digital-Natives (SHIELD) Bill, 2025, introduced by BJP lawmaker Baijayant Panda, proposes mandatory age-verification systems for platforms accessible to minors and parental-control dashboards that would allow guardians to monitor activity, manage privacy settings, and restrict screen time.
The SHIELD Bill defines a child as anyone below 18 and seeks to impose a dedicated set of safety obligations on social media services, online gaming platforms, and other digital intermediaries. It proposes prohibiting platforms from tracking, profiling, or using personalised advertising for children. Data collected from children would have to be limited to what is necessary to provide the service, retained for no more than 90 days after account inactivity, and permanently erased at the request of a parent or guardian.
Platforms would also have to take steps to prevent children from being exposed to pornography, gambling and simulated betting, violent or extremist material, and drug-related content. Harmful content reported by an individual, parent, or guardian would have to be removed or disabled within 36 hours, or within 24 hours where it involves child sexual abuse material.
{{/usCountry}}Platforms would also have to take steps to prevent children from being exposed to pornography, gambling and simulated betting, violent or extremist material, and drug-related content. Harmful content reported by an individual, parent, or guardian would have to be removed or disabled within 36 hours, or within 24 hours where it involves child sexual abuse material.
{{/usCountry}}The bill also proposes a dedicated “Report Child Harm” button on platforms, with complaints to be acknowledged within 24 hours and disposed of within 48 hours.
The proposed legislation comes as the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is considering how to introduce age-based restrictions and other safeguards for children on social media platforms.
Platforms violating the proposed law could face penalties of up to ₹10 crore. Repeated or wilful violations could result in temporary suspension or blocking of services under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act.
Panda’s second bill, the Protection of Personality Likeness from Artificial Intelligence Misuse Bill, 2026, seeks to prohibit the creation or distribution of realistic AI-generated imitations of a person without their consent where these could mislead the public into believing that the person said, did, or endorsed something they did not.
It proposes a 24-hour takedown deadline for such content after notice, reduced to 12 hours for sexually explicit material. Knowingly creating or distributing such AI-generated content for impersonation, fraud, deception, or sexually explicit purposes could attract up to three years in prison, a fine of up to ₹10 lakh, or both.