According to the draft rules of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, children under the age of 18 will need parental consent to create an account on social media platforms. The rules also include age verification methods and data security provisions.
New Delhi. Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP Act), children will now need the permission of parents or guardians to access social media platforms. This law was approved by Parliament in August 2023, but it did not clearly mention the method of checking consent. Now its draft rules have been issued for public consultation, on which feedback can be given till February 18. According to these rules, the age of children will be confirmed through a government ID or a token verified by the digital locker service provider.
As per the example given in the draft rules, if a child (C) wants to create an account on a platform, the data fiduciary (DF) will have to check the consent of the parents (P).
What will happen?
- Parents will confirm their identity and age.
- DF must ensure that the parents’ identity and age records are reliable.
- Only then will the child’s data be processed.
Controversy over children’s data processing
Provisions related to children’s data processing have been a matter of controversy since 2023. Many big tech companies like Meta and Google had demanded to reduce the definition of children from 18 years to 14 years. Some sections of civil society and industry had expressed concern that such rules could affect innovation and create problems for the technology sector.
A matter of relief
However, in the DPDP rules, the government has exempted some data fiduciaries from the restrictions imposed on children’s data processing. These institutions include
Mental health institutions and health care professionals
- Allied health care professionals
- Educational institutions
- Day care centers for children
What is a data fiduciary?
In simple terms, a data fiduciary is an organization or person who collects and uses your data. When you use an app, website, or service, some information (such as name, email, phone number, location) is taken from you. Whoever is given this information is called the data fiduciary. It is the responsibility of the data fiduciary to keep your data safe and use it only for the purposes for which your consent has been taken.
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