Aashish Aryan, Deputy Chief of Bureau, Technology at ET, discusses India's groundbreaking Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. The act mandates parental consent for children under 18 to access online platforms, reshaping child data protection. Aryan delves into how data fiduciaries will ensure age verification and tackle misinformation. The conversation also addresses the potential mental health implications of digital exposure for children and emphasizes the importance of parental collaboration and education in navigating these new regulations.
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act mandates verifiable parental consent for children under 18, enhancing their protection online.
Platforms face challenges in implementing age verification processes while balancing privacy concerns and ensuring children's safe internet access.
Deep dives
Verifiable Parental Consent for Minors
New regulations require verifiable parental consent for individuals under 18 accessing social media, e-commerce, or gaming platforms. This responsibility lies with the platforms, compelling them to ensure that a child has legitimate parental oversight. Verification methods can include digital services like DigiLocker, where parents' and children’s documents can be cross-verified. If discrepancies arise, the government can hold platforms accountable for not adhering to these consent verification processes.
Impact of Excessive Social Media Use
Studies reveal a strong link between excessive social media use and mental health issues like anxiety and depression among children. Social media platforms operate on reward cycles that can overshadow real-life experiences, making it difficult for children to engage in everyday activities without seeking constant gratification online. This can lead to addictive behaviors since children in their developmental stages might prioritize digital interactions over beneficial skill-building. As a result, the regulations aim to mitigate these negative impacts by enforcing parental oversight.
Challenges in Age Verification Processes
Implementing the age verification process poses significant challenges for platforms, particularly for new users creating accounts. Companies need to establish effective methods to verify parental relationships and ensure that the user is indeed the child's parent. Existing user data may assist in this process, but new accounts raise questions regarding acceptable verification standards. Furthermore, global regulatory practices highlight ongoing debates about balancing privacy with the need for age verification without overly restricting internet access.
India’s long-awaited Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, is finally here, setting the stage for a new era in data privacy and security. The most interesting aspect of the rules is how it seeks to e-protect children. The act, among other things, mandates verifiable parental consent of children below 18 years of age for them to access social media, e-commerce sites and gaming apps.
In this episode, host Anirban Chowdhury speaks with Aashish Aryan, Deputy Chief of Bureau, Technology at ET, Geetika Kapoor, a consultant school psychologist and founder of EdEssential, and Nehaa Chaudhari, Partner at Ikigai Law, to break down this key aspect of the Act. From how data fiduciaries will ensure age gating to how they will detect lies and misrepresentations.