Supreme Court Rejects Blanket Social Media Ban for Children, Calls for Targeted Action on CSEAM

On 15 October 2026, the Supreme Court of India rejected a blanket ban on children's access to social media, ruling that any blanket restriction on internet access by children amounts to unproven measures of proven disproportionality. The court stated that no jurisdiction has been able to demonstrate that children are safer on account of such measures. Instead, the court directed the central government to develop guidelines for detecting and removing child sexual exploitation and abuse material, including the creation of a National Hash and URL List Database, emphasizing that protection measures must target harmful material and those responsible for it rather than restricting children's access.

A world-leading AI online-safety platform can deliver exactly the targeted intervention the court prescribed. By detecting coercion, sustained targeting and escalation patterns in direct-message conversations across Instagram, Snapchat, Discord, Roblox and other platforms, anti-grooming and anti-CSAM detection modules intercept the harm itself rather than removing the child from the digital environment. The technology blocks or flags hostile contact before it reaches the target, surfaces a child in crisis to a parent or professional, and enables rapid escalation to authorities when exploitation material is detected, addressing the risk the court identified without imposing the access restrictions it found disproportionate.