Experts: Age Verification Not the Right Fix for Child Safety Issues in India

India's proposed child safety regulations, intended to protect minors online, have drawn criticism from experts. The specific measure of age assurance, which would require users to verify their age, is under scrutiny.

According to expert analyses published by Medianama, age assurance is considered the wrong remedy. While the harm faced by children online is not disputed, critics argue that the proposed solution fails to address the fundamental issues, focusing instead on symptoms. SFLC.in (Software Freedom Law Center) has highlighted that this approach leaves the underlying technological architecture of online services untouched.

Section 9 of India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, concerning the processing of children's personal data, is set to take effect on May 13, 2027. The design of the age check mechanism is now the central question, rather than whether to implement one. Experts suggest that the verification process itself could introduce new harms instead of mitigating existing ones.

A particular concern relates to how age assurance might impact India's unique digital environment. In many Indian households, children serve as the primary interface for accessing digital public services. In such cases, an age gate could restrict not only children's access to services but also their parents' or grandparents' ability to utilize them, such as for social welfare or health services.

Furthermore, critics point out that current proposals overly focus on data privacy and illegal content, neglecting actual clinical harms like addiction, excessive screen time, and mental health issues. Instead, a model is proposed where child-appropriate algorithms would undergo approval before deployment, similar to pharmaceutical approvals. This would require platforms to have built-in risk assessment standards prior to product launches, not retrospectively.