Even asKarnatakaand Andhra Pradesh try to address the growing concern over digital addiction among children and its impact on their learning and mental health, the issue has triggered a fresh political one-upmanship between the two southern states over who first flagged the idea of restricting social media use for minors.
Both states acknowledge that at the heart of the matter lies the mental health of children in the age of smartphones and the growing grip of social media on young minds.
The debate sparked off after Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, presenting his record 17th State Budget for 2026–27, announced that the government would move to ban social media use for children below the age of 16.
“With the objective of preventing adverse effects of increasing mobile usage on children, usage of social media will be banned for children under the age of 16," Siddaramaiah said while presenting the budget.
The Chief Minister had recently raised concerns about what he described as the troubling rise of digital dependency among children, warning that unchecked gadget use was affecting students’ behaviour, attention spans and mental health.
On February 22, Siddaramaiah, during a meeting with vice-chancellors of state universities at the Karnataka State Higher Education Council, sought their views on restricting mobile phones and social media access for minors under the age of 16. Citing examples of countries such as Australia and other Western nations that have begun regulating social media use among children, Siddaramaiah argued that excessive gadget use was beginning to shape the behaviour and learning patterns of students in worrying ways.
On February 24, the Andhra Pradesh government told its Assembly that it too was studying legislation to regulate social media use by school students. Home Minister Vangalapudi Anitha said a Cabinet sub-committee had been formed to examine ways to regulate social media platforms, curb false propaganda and shield children from harmful online content.
The committee, she said, had already met twice and was examining policy measures adopted in other states, including Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. According to the Home Minister, the state has registered 1,384 cases so far relating to objectionable social media posts, with 1,067 people arrested and produced before courts.
The issue soon took a political turn, with Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh suggesting that the idea had first been proposed in his state.
“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Glad to see Karnataka considering restrictions on social media for those under 16 — an idea we had proposed earlier in Andhra Pradesh to protect young minds from the darker side of the digital world. Sometimes good ideas travel fast," Lokesh wrote.
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