Centre looks to empower more ministries to block social media content, Pg1

Key Highlights:

• The Centre is considering empowering the Ministries of Home Affairs, External Affairs, Defence, and Information and Broadcasting to issue content blocking orders to social media platforms.
• This power is currently held only by the IT Ministry under Section 69 (A) of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000.
• The proposed change is driven by the increase in AI-generated misleading content online.
• SEBI has been flagging the issue of incorrect financial information being spread by financial influencers.

Detailed Insights:

• The government is in inter-ministerial discussions to amend the IT Act to allow more ministries to issue content blocking orders.
• Two parallel content blocking mechanisms are currently in place in India.
• Evidence suggests excessive social media use is linked to higher risk of suicidal thoughts and self-harm among adolescents.
• Australia passed legislation in December 2025 raising the minimum age for social media use from 15 to 16.
• The current minimum age of 13 originates from the US’s 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which focused on data collection.
• Social media platforms use engagement-driven designs that can be particularly harmful to children whose brains are still developing.
• A study in India found that nearly half of adolescents felt distressed when their posts did not receive enough “likes”.
• Technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation is expanding worldwide, affecting 300 million children.
• The Annual Status of Education Report 2024 found that nearly 90% of adolescents aged 14-16 have access to a smartphone at home.
• Governments must ensure platform accountability, push for stronger safety-by-design standards, and greater transparency.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Section 69(A) IT Act, 2000: Empowers the government to block public access to information online.
• AI-generated content: Content created using artificial intelligence, which can sometimes be misleading.
• Safety-by-design: Incorporating safety measures and protections into the design of digital platforms from the outset.

IT Act