New Delhi: Under the proposed draft rules for the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025, a child will require an adult’s consent to open social media accounts. The adult, according to the draft rules, can be either a parent or a guardian.
The Centre released the draft rules on Friday and invited public feedback, which can be submitted on mygov.in until February 18. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) stated in a notification that the suggestions and objections received will be considered after the deadline.
The draft specifies that the consent provided for a child to open social media accounts must be “verifiable.” It also mandates that personal data processing for children or persons with disabilities will occur only with “verifiable” consent.
The draft states, “A data fiduciary shall adopt appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure that verifiable consent of the parent is obtained before the processing of any personal data of a child and shall observe due diligence, for checking that the individual identifying herself as the parent is an adult who is identifiable if required in connection with compliance with any law for the time being in force in India…”.
Key highlights of the draft rules include enhanced consumer control over personal data, the right to request data deletion, transparency obligations for companies handling personal data, and the right for users to know why their data is being collected. The draft also proposes a steep penalty of up to ₹250 crore for data breaches.
The rules define an “e-commerce entity” as any individual or entity that owns, operates, or manages a digital platform for e-commerce as per the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. This does not include sellers offering goods or services on marketplace e-commerce platforms defined in the same Act.
Additionally, an “online gaming intermediary” refers to any intermediary facilitating user access to one or more online games, while a “social media intermediary” is defined as an intermediary under the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000) that primarily enables online interactions between users, allowing them to create, upload, share, modify, or access information through its services.
