A Public Interest Litigation has landed before the Delhi High Court, calling for a nationwide legal framework that would completely bar children under 13 from using social media. The petition goes further too — it's also pushing for stricter digital protections for teenagers between 13 and 16, including a possible night-time social media curfew and mandatory age verification systems. The plea was filed by Kirti Dua, a mother of a three-year-old, along with paediatrician Dr. Sharad Gupta, and names several Central ministries, the NCPCR, and major tech companies — including Meta, Alphabet, Telegram, Snap Inc., and X Corp — as respondents.
A Bench Change Before the First Real Hearing
The case was first listed before a Division Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia. But right at the preliminary hearing, Justice Karia recused himself from the matter. As a result, the High Court has reassigned the case to a new Bench, and the next hearing is now set for August 5.
One of the central arguments in the petition is that existing safeguards on social media platforms are essentially voluntary — and easy for tech-savvy kids to get around. Fake birthdates, throwaway email IDs, unverified secondary accounts — the petitioners point out that minors routinely slip past age gates using these simple tricks. Their argument is that self-regulation by platforms clearly isn't working, and it's time for the courts and lawmakers to step in with enforceable rules instead.
The Constitutional Argument
The petitioners' legal case rests on the idea that unchecked exposure to algorithm-driven feeds, explicit content, and online harassment poses a direct threat to children's physical, emotional, and psychological wellbeing. They also argue that addictive design features — think infinite scroll and auto-playing videos — are specifically engineered to hook young, still-developing minds for the sake of engagement.
According to the plea, this amounts to a violation of children's fundamental right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution. It also invokes Article 39(f), which obligates the state to protect children and young people from exploitation. And while laws like the IT Act, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, and POCSO already exist on paper, the petitioners argue that enforcement on the ground simply isn't keeping up with the scale of harm happening online.
What the Petition Is Actually Asking For
The plea lays out a fairly detailed set of recommendations. At the top of the list: a complete ban on social media access for anyone under 13, along with a more restricted, filtered experience for teens aged 13 to 16. There's also a call for a night-time curfew on social media use for minors, aimed at preventing sleep disruption from late-night scrolling.
Beyond that, the petition wants mandatory, robust age verification — comparing the level of security needed to systems like DigiYatra — to properly confirm a user's identity before they can even create a profile. It also asks that social media companies be required to instantly take down child sexual abuse material, roll out proactive AI-based content filtering, and tighten compliance under existing intermediary guidelines. For now, the High Court hasn't commented on the merits of the case — that, along with whether the petition is even maintainable, will be examined at the next hearing on August 5.