A proposed legislation in Parliament is seeking to change how social media companies and online platforms collect and use information belonging to children. The SHIELD Bill, 2025, moved by BJP MP Baijayant Panda, proposes restrictions on tracking, profiling and personalised advertising involving minors.
The proposal comes alongside a plan to require verified parental consent before children under 13 can create accounts on social media and online gaming platforms. Together, these provisions would create a framework in which technology companies would have greater legal responsibilities toward young users.
The focus on advertising is significant because personalised digital advertising depends heavily on user data. Platforms can analyse activity, interests and behaviour to determine what content or advertisements are likely to appeal to particular users.
The proposed bill seeks to prevent such practices from being used against children. It would treat minors as a category requiring additional protection rather than simply applying the same rules to them as adult users.
The proposal reportedly defines a child as anyone below 18 for several protections. Therefore, while the account restriction focuses specifically on children under 13, other safeguards could apply more broadly to minors.
This distinction is important. The bill does not simply propose a single age-based ban. Instead, it creates different layers of protection. Children under 13 would face stronger restrictions regarding account creation, while minors more generally could receive safeguards against profiling and targeted advertising.
Another proposed measure is mandatory age verification. Platforms accessible to minors would have to develop mechanisms to establish the age of users. This could fundamentally change the way children register for online services.
Age verification, however, could present practical challenges. Platforms would need to verify age without collecting unnecessary personal information or creating new databases that themselves become targets for misuse. How such a system would operate would therefore be an important part of any future implementation.
The SHIELD Bill also proposes parental-control dashboards. Parents would potentially be able to monitor activity, change privacy settings and impose screen-time limits. This would give families more tools to supervise children’s digital lives.
The bill additionally seeks to protect children from harmful online material. Platforms would have obligations concerning pornography, gambling, simulated betting, violent or extremist content and drug-related material.
The proposed financial penalties are another important element. Reports indicate that platforms violating the proposed requirements could face fines of up to ₹10 crore. Repeated or deliberate violations could lead to stronger measures, including possible suspension or blocking under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act.
The proposal therefore puts substantial responsibility on technology companies. Instead of relying exclusively on parents to protect children, platforms would be expected to build safety measures into their services.
However, the bill remains a proposal. It was scheduled to be introduced in Parliament but was not taken up because of adjournments.
That means the proposed restrictions are not currently enforceable as a new SHIELD law.
The legislation nevertheless highlights a major change in the policy debate around children’s internet use. The question is no longer simply whether children should be allowed online. Increasingly, policymakers are asking how platforms should collect children’s data, what content they should see and whether commercial systems should be allowed to influence young users.
If Parliament eventually considers the bill in detail, privacy, age verification, parental rights and corporate responsibility are likely to become central issues.
The SHIELD Bill thus places children’s digital privacy alongside online safety, making it part of a much wider debate over the future of India’s internet economy.
Journalist Details
- Jitendra Kumar is an Indian journalist and social activist from Hathras in Uttar Pradesh is known as the senior journalist and founder of Xpert Times Network Private Limited.
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