Vijayawada, Jan 23: The Andhra Pradesh government is considering banning social media access for children below the age of 16, Human Resource Development and IT Minister Nara Lokesh said.
Speaking to Bloomberg at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Nara Lokesh said that the Andhra Pradesh government is studying the methods used to ban social media use by children below the age of 16 in Australia.
He stressed that children should not have access to social media as they do not fully understand the content, pros and cons of it, and a strong legal framework is needed in our country in this regard.
Responding to this, TDP national spokesperson Deepak Reddy said that Human Resource Development Minister Nara Lokesh has rightly highlighted the serious concerns surrounding the impact of social media on the mental health and safety of young children. Children under a certain age are not emotionally mature enough to perceive negative and harmful content that is freely available online. That is why the Andhra Pradesh government is studying global best practices, which are being implemented in Australia, he said.
Accusing the previous YSRCP government of blatantly misusing social media to carry out brutal and derogatory attacks on women, Deepak Reddy said that the NDA coalition government in Andhra Pradesh was one of the first states to crack down on such abuse.
The current initiative is aimed at protecting children from toxic and harmful content. He said that we all stand firmly with TDP Minister Lokesh in efforts to protect children.