The Supreme Court of India, led by Justice J B Pardiwala, declared on Friday that every child has an unqualified right to use the internet, rejecting an age‑related ban that had been proposed by several lawmakers.
The bench, hearing petitions from Just Rights for Children Alliance and another NGO, warned that denying children online access would be as absurd as denying them conscience or free speech.
It demanded that social media platforms implement stricter parental controls, remove any child sexual exploitation material and activate child‑mode features to safeguard vulnerable users.
The Court also instructed the Centre to create a national database of digital identifiers linked to confirmed abusive content, and to draft guidelines for perceptual hash‑matching and URL listing to aid rapid removal.
The ruling comes amid reports of paid promotion of child sexual abuse material on platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, prompting calls for stronger regulatory oversight.
The Centre is expected to submit its action plan by the end of December, after which a review hearing will be scheduled to assess compliance.