Bengaluru: Karnataka mulls ban social media for children below 16, says Priyank Kharge
Bengaluru: The Karnataka government is considering a ban on the use of social media for children below the age of 16, taking inspiration from steps taken by countries such as Australia and Finland, The New Indian Express reported.
Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj and IT-BT, Priyank Kharge, informed the Assembly on Friday that the issue is under discussion. Responding to senior BJP leader and MLA S Suresh Kumar, who expressed concern over the abuse of social media, Kharge admitted that it is a serious issue.
Finland has taken action, the UK is considering similar steps, and Australia imposed a ban two months ago. “We too in the state have launched a digital detoxification programme for responsible use of AI and social media. The IT-BT department, in collaboration with Meta, has been running it by involving over three lakh children and one lakh teachers,” TNIE quoted him as saying.
Kharge said that in March 2025, the government launched the ‘Beyond Screens’ programme to help people dealing with digital addiction. The initiative was announced during the GAFX 2025 summit, along with the opening of a ‘Beyond Screens’ digital detox centre and the launch of an official website.
The detox centre serves as a dedicated hub for resources, counselling and intervention programmes for healthier digital habits.
During the Assembly session, Suresh Kumar also referred to the Economic Survey 2025-26, which was presented in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. The survey recommended that governments consider age-based restrictions on social media use for children.
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'MCC-Modi's Code of Campaigning': Cong's dig at EC
New Delhi (PTI): Ahead of the assembly polls schedule announcement by the Election Commission, the Congress on Sunday took a swipe, saying since 2014 the MCC has come to stand for "Modi's Code of Campaigning which will be full of defamation, abuses, intimidation, fear-mongering, and spreading the virus of lies."
The opposition party also claimed that the poll schedule announcement "would have been given the go-ahead by the G2, since G1 would have completed this round of inaugurations, ribbon-cuttings, flag-offs, and launches".
The Congress frequently uses the term 'G2' to take swipes at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, who are both from Gujarat.
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In a post on X, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "The Election Commission will announce the schedule for the 2026 assembly elections at 4 PM today. It would have been given the go-ahead by the G2, since G1 would have completed this round of inaugurations, ribbon-cuttings, flag-offs, and launches."
"The Election Commission's Model Code of Conduct (MCC) will soon come into effect. But since 2014 this has come to stand for Modi's Code of Campaigning which will be full of defamation, abuses, intimidation, fear-mongering, and spreading the virus of lies," Ramesh said.
The MCC is a set of conventions agreed upon by all stakeholders during the elections. Its objective is to keep campaigning, polling and counting orderly, clean and peaceful and check any abuse of state machinery and finances by the party in power.
The Election Commission will announce dates for assembly polls in Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Puducherry on Sunday evening.
The terms of these legislative assemblies are ending on different dates in May and June.
Final electoral rolls of the four states and the Union territory of Puducherry have been published as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters' list.
