India’s annual Economic Survey has taken a strong swipe at social media platforms, branding their business models “predatory” and opening the door to age-based curbs on children’s access.
The survey says platforms are engineered to keep users hooked, driving up engagement and screen time while fuelling what it calls “digital addiction” among young people. The results, it says, are already visible in shrinking attention spans, poorer educational outcomes and falling productivity.
India’s chief economic adviser, V. Anantha Nageswaran, bluntly says platforms are “predatory” in how they keep users online, with algorithms designed to “maximise engagement and time spent on apps, with users aged 15 to 24 particularly targeted”.
The survey says “digital addiction is already taking a toll, negatively affecting academic performance and workplace productivity through constant distraction, reduced focus and sleep deprivation”.
The report points to Australia, which last year became the first country to ban social media for children under 16, though it stops short of calling for an outright national ban in India.
A growing list of countries is rethinking how much access children should have to social media.
“Policies on age-based access limits may be considered, as younger users are more vulnerable to compulsive use and harmful content,” Nageswaran told reporters.
“Platforms should be made responsible for enforcing age verification and age-appropriate defaults, particularly for social media, gambling apps, auto-play features, and targeted advertising,” he added.
Pressure is also rising at the state level. Andhra Pradesh and Goa say they are studying Australia’s regulatory framework with an eye to similar restrictions for children.
Nageswaran welcomed the moves, saying “we are very happy” the two states are considering curbs.
Officials say states could act as testing grounds, for age-based limits, school phone bans and tougher platform compliance before anything is rolled out nationally. Measures could be tried, refined and evaluated before being scaled up nationally.
India’s wider regulatory net is already tightening. Under data protection rules that have been notified, tech companies offering services to under-18 users have to seek parental consent, while behavioural tracking and targeted advertising to children will be banned once the framework comes into force.
Regulation alone will not be enough, the survey argues. Nageswaran urges families to step in, calling for screen-time limits, device-free hours and more shared offline activities to avoid too much digital exposure.
India is the world’s second-largest smartphone market, with around 750 million devices in use. More than 85 per cent of households own at least one smartphone, and the country has more than a billion internet users. Research firm DataReportal estimates YouTube has around 500 million users in India, Facebook 403 million and Instagram 481 million.
That scale makes India a prize market for social media companies.
Meta has said it supports laws encouraging parental oversight, but has warned that “governments considering social media bans should be careful not to push teens toward less safe unregulated sites”.
Australia’s law puts the burden of compliance squarely on platforms, not families. Companies must block under-16s from holding accounts or face heavy fines.
France’s lower house just this week approved legislation to ban social media access for children under 15, citing mounting concerns over mental health and online harm. The bill would also tighten phone restrictions in schools.
Canada, too, is moving closer, drafting a new online regulation bill that could introduce age-based limits, potentially setting a minimum age of around 14.
The survey’s recommendations are not binding. But past surveys have shaped policy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government from tax changes to investment rules.