Relevance: GS II (Governance) & GS III (Cyber Security) | Source: The Indian Express

1. What is the News?

A landmark U.S. court verdict fined tech giants (Meta and YouTube) $6 million for deliberately designing “addictive” social media products that harmed a minor’s mental health. This legally shifts the blame from user “screen time” to unsafe platform “design.”

2. The Core Issue: Engineered Addiction

Companies are accused of designing platforms to maximize user attention for ad revenue using:

• Algorithmic Recommendations: Feeding content users cannot stop watching.
• Infinite Scrolling: Removing the “bottom” of a page so the brain misses natural stopping cues.

3. India’s Legal Shield

Unlike Australia (which banned social media for children under 16), India takes a step-by-step regulatory approach:

4. The Implementation Challenge

• “Age-Gating” Failure: Children easily bypass rules by faking their birth year.
• The Privacy Dilemma: If platforms force users to upload government IDs (like Aadhaar) to verify age, it creates a massive surveillance and privacy risk for everyone.

UPSC Value Box

With reference to the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, consider the following statements:

1. The Act explicitly bans targeted advertising and behavioral tracking directed at children.
2. Under the provisions of the Act, a “child” is defined as any individual below the age of 16 years.
3. Social media platforms must obtain verifiable parental or guardian consent before processing the personal data of a child.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 1 and 3 only

(c) 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3