BRICS Chairship: India's Divergent Approach to Child Online Safety
India's BRICS chairship highlights the differing national strategies for child online safety. International cooperation in this area faces challenges due to these regulatory model variations.
As India assumes the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) chairship, the countries' divergent approaches to protecting children online are coming under scrutiny. New Delhi will host the 18th BRICS Summit in September 2026. While member states have agreed in principle to cooperate on child online protection, their legislative frameworks vary significantly.
The differences are evident in how each nation safeguards minors. For instance, Brazil mandates that social media accounts for individuals under 16 must be linked to a legal guardian. China caps daily app usage for those under 16 at one hour and enforces nighttime service restrictions. Indonesia permits children under 14 to use low-risk platforms with parental consent, but prohibits access to high-risk ones.
India's own Digital Personal Data Protection Act requires verifiable parental consent for all users under 18, without distinction based on age. This contrasts with the more complex, age-banded systems developed by other BRICS nations.
This disparity presents a challenge for establishing a unified strategy. Although the 2025 Rio de Janeiro Declaration acknowledged progress in child online protection and 'exchange of knowledge and best practice among member states,' practical implementation requires deeper consensus. The upcoming BRICS summit aims to address these regulatory differences and find pathways toward more consistent global child online safety measures.