Andhra Pradesh Minister for Education, IT & Electronics Nara Lokesh has directed officials to prepare a comprehensive regulatory framework to restrict children under 13 from accessing social media and to design an age-appropriate digital environment for teenagers.
As part of enforcement architecture, the government is evaluating the use of secure age-verification mechanisms, including “age tokens” integrated with DigiLocker. This could enable platforms to authenticate user age without compromising privacy, a critical step toward implementing age restrictions at scale.
He asked the officials to prepare a draft of legislation that balances digital access with child safety, creativity, and mental well-being.
The State will also seek public feedback and submit recommendations to the Government of India on matters within the central legislative domain, indicating a potential pathway toward national-level policy evolution.
Lokesh chaired a Group of Ministers (GoM) meeting in Amaravati, where senior officials and representatives from leading social media platforms, including Meta, Google, Snapchat, and Sharechat, participated.
They briefed the GoM on existing safeguards for restricting sensitive content and handling user complaints. They expressed willingness to collaborate closely with the Andhra Pradesh government in implementing these measures.
Lokesh said there was an urgent need for a graded, age-based content access system to ensure that children are not exposed to harmful or inappropriate content. The proposed framework aims to align Andhra Pradesh with emerging global standards in digital child protection.
The government asked the officials to study the best practices from countries such as Singapore, Australia, and Denmark to build a robust legal and technological framework tailored to India’s needs.
He said strict action will be taken against individuals posting abusive or hateful content, particularly targeting women, a State government release said here on Thursday.
Published on April 9, 2026