Even as French policy-makers on January 26 approved a proposed law banning social media for children under 15, India’s sun-and-beach State Goa is mulling a similar ban for children, first implemented in Australia. But the cut-off age hasn’t yet been decided or discussed in India’s smallest  territory by area.

According to a Reuters report from New Delhi yesterday, authorities in Goa are examining Australia’s law to study how to regulate minors’ access to social media platforms, said Rohan Khaunte, the State’s Infotech Minister. “If possible, (we will) implement a similar ban on children below 16 for usage of social media,” he told reporters this week. Details will follow,” he added.

Among the top markets for tech giants such as Meta, Google’s YouTube and X, India is thought to have many users aged under 18 but has imposed no national curbs on social media and there are no indications the federal government plans to do so.

The southern State of Andhra Pradesh, with a population of more than 53 million, has said it is looking into similar measures. Goa, by contrast, is the smallest State by area, with a population estimated at over 1.5 million. India’s IT ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Google and X also did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the plan.

Meta said it supports laws which require parental oversight but that “governments considering bans should be careful not to push teens toward less safe, unregulated sites.”

“We’ll comply with social media bans, but with teens using 40 apps weekly, targeting a handful of companies won’t keep them safe,” a Meta spokesperson told Reuters in an email.

Andhra Pradesh recently set up a panel of senior ministers to make recommendations within a month after studying such global regulation efforts, media said.

Last year, Australia became the first country to ban social media for children under 16, deactivating 4.7 million teen accounts in the first month. France, Indonesia and Malaysia are among other countries watching the Australian rollout with a view to adopting similar laws.

Meanwhile, French lawmakers approved a bill banning social media for children under 15, paving the way for the measure to enter into force at the start of the next school year in September, as the idea of setting a minimum age for use of the platforms gains momentum across Europe, an AP report from Paris stated yesterday.

The Bill, which also bans the use of mobile phones in high schools, was adopted by a 130-21 vote late Monday (Januray 26). French President Macron has requested that the legislation be fast-tracked and it will now be discussed by the Senate in the coming weeks.

“Banning social media for those under 15: this is what scientists recommend, and this is what the French people are overwhelmingly calling for,” Macron said after the vote, “Because our children’s brains are not for sale — neither to American platforms nor to Chinese networks. Because their dreams must not be dictated by algorithms.”

The issue is one of the very few in a divided National Assembly to attract such broad support, despite critics from the hard left denouncing provisions of the bill as infringement on civil liberties.

Weakened domestically since his decision to dissolve parliament plunged France into a prolonged political crisis, Macron has strongly supported the ban, which could become one of the final major measures adopted under his leadership before he leaves office next year.

(Goa image is for representational purpose only)