Karnataka HC suggests government must consider introducing an age limit for use of social media

Karnataka High Court has remarked that it would be appropriate that an age limit should be introduced for using social media just like the legal age for drinking alcohol. A division bench comprises of Justices G Narendar and Vijaykumar A Patil made the observation while hearing an appeal by X Corp (formerly Twitter) challenging the single judge order of June 30 which had dismissed its plea to the takedown orders issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY).

Under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act between February 2, 2021 and February 28, 2022, MeiTY had issued 10 Government Orders directing it to block 1,474 accounts, 175 Tweets, 256 URLs and one hashtag. Twitter challenged the orders related to 39 of these URLs. "Ban social media. I will tell you a lot of good will come. Today’s school-going children are so addicted to it. I think there should be an age limit such as in Excise rules," Justice G Narendar noted.

The court further observed that "children may be 17 or 18. But do they have the maturity to judge what is or is not in the interest of the nation? Not only on social media, but even on the Internet things should be removed, it corrupts the mind. The government should consider bringing in an age limit for the use of social media.” The court had also imposed a cost of Rs 50 lakh on X Corp.

In argument, X Corp’s counsel said that MeiTY had not informed the users about blocking their tweets and accounts and even the company was forbidden from informing them. The HC asked the Government saying, "You do not release the order. He is not permitted to reveal the order. How is he going to defend himself?" The HC suggested that the government may have to tweak the rules a bit as it is at the government’s discretion that X Corp is blocking the accounts of users and the company cannot be left high and dry.

However, the HC said, "When it comes to national security, everybody has to be on the same page." The HC recommended that the government might need to make some adjustments to the regulations, considering that it is within the government's authority to restrict user accounts at X Corp, and the company should not be left in a vulnerable position. When the counsel for the company argued that it had informed which order of MeiTY it could comply with and which it could not, the bench said X Corp could not be the judge.

The court said the X Corp "cannot be given the right to judge the content. If the content says Apple a day keeps the doctor away, you will interpret that as being against the doctor and the interest of the nation?" The hearing of the case was adjourned to Wednesday when the HC will decide on the interim relief sought by X Corp. The hearing of the appeal will be heard after that, the HC said.