The Ministry of Electronics of Information Technology (MeitY) is closely engaging with, and listening to the opinions of multiple stakeholders including the platforms themselves on the impact of social media on children and it cannot be a “sudden and major decision”, MeitY Secretary S Krishnan, said.
“When governments from different political parties feel this is an issue that requires attention, it is something we have to take seriously,” Krishnan said. The National Human Rights Commission too had a special consultation session about a month ago, to which we were invited, he added.
Informal consultations have also begun with social media intermediaries. “We had an informal chat saying give us your views, we’ll look at it,” he noted.
The matter has gained attention as several State governments have started talking of a need for regulatory intervention in the matter going as far as suggesting bans on it. The risks of social media use on the youth has been flagged in the Economic Survey, and the matter has also been discussed extensively in multiple Standing Committees, including those on Information Technology and Home Affairs, said the Secretary.
Interestingly, MeitY is also said to be carefully studying a recent judgment in the US wherein a California Court ruled on the impact of social media platforms on digital addiction. The Court penalized social media platforms Meta and YouTube for creating algorithms and methods by which they build addictions. Globally too, Australia, France and the UK are among countries that have kicked off ways to limit access of social to children.
Draft IT Rules Amendment
Clarifying on the recent backlash over MeitY’s proposed amendments to the 2021 IT Rules, Krishnan emphasized that it is not aimed at expanding government powers or censorship. “The amendment is largely clarificatory in nature. It is wrong understanding to view it as an attempt to widen the government’s authority,” the official said.
“The intent is to ensure clearer distinction between news publishers, intermediaries and users and modifications will be made to reflect that more clearly,” he said, adding that all stakeholders have sought additional time to submit representations.
IT Sector
The MeitY Secretary said that the impact of the advancements of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the large scale jobs in Indian IT sector is a key issue on their radar and they engage with multiple stakeholders on this. We are consulting with a range of ministries and departments on this. We are talking to the Department of Economic Affairs, we are talking to other entities like Niti Aayog and the Ministry of Skill Development, Education and others, he said.
“We believe that the pace of adoption of AI has been a little slower [in India] than what many people originally feared; it gives us a little more time to adjust,” he said.
On the various ways India can deal with this, the IT secretary said that reskilling and upskilling workforce, and training the next-generation of workers more on domain knowledge than coding/programming should be key ways to prepare. Noting a need to work on job creation and promotion in areas less vulnerable to impact of AI such as manufacturing, healthcare and others, he said that the policymakers must also make sure it is “prestigious” to hold those jobs.
AI Governance Framework
With regard to how the AI Governance Framework is getting operationalized, the Secretary said they are working on assessing if there should be a separate AI Governance Group (AIGG) and an AI Economic Council as suggested by Economic Survey as there are overlaps between the two in some ways.
AI Summit impact
More than the deals sealed the energy that the world saw in India’s AI ecosystem is what really differentiates our Summit, he said. “What we managed to do was truly democratize AI.” As for the progress in the models backed by the Government, the Secretary said they will continue to engage with these model makers and move forward on satisfying certain mutual obligations from both sides.
IT Hardware Standardisation
With regard to MeitY’s efforts to weed out the use of less-trusted sources in critical IT hardware such as CCTV cameras, the Secretary said they keep evaluating a range of applications where there could be security implications. We have to balance various security and surveillance concerns, and also assess how minimally disruptive it can be in the market, if we go for regulations and standardisation.
Published on April 9, 2026