For users in India between 13 and 18 years of age, apps may now have to get parental consent by verifying the identity of the children and their parents. The Digital Personal Data Protection bill defines children as those below 18 years, which is above the global threshold. Users above 13 years of age, for example, are typically allowed on many social media platforms.
“If the child uses 40 apps on their phone and each of these 40 apps have a copy of their Aadhaar card and also a copy of their parents’ Aadhaar card, it would be a big issue,” said an industry executive.“Social media intermediaries have been advocating for a self-regulatory or a co-regulatory standard where the details of verifiable parental consent are spelt out. ID documentation of millions of Indian children and their parents is an unnecessary security risk that will manifest thanks to the age-gating obligation,” the person added. Experts said that edtech companies, health tech companies and social media platforms such as Meta’s Facebook and ’s YouTube may be the most impacted by the provision. “On the issue of taking a mother or a father’s consent or permission (for processing their children’s data), today we have a lot of digital means such as ,” Ashwini Vaishnaw, minister for electronics and IT, told in response to questions on age gating and parental consent. “Through DigiLocker, parental consent can be obtained.”Under the data bill, the government has fixed the age of a child as an individual below 18. Hence, for any data fiduciary or social media intermediary to process the personal data of any individual below the age of 18, parental consent must be taken.
