Supreme Court seeks response from Centre, Meta to plea against social media algorithms addicting children

The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought responses from the Central government and Meta on a petition seeking to regulate platforms like Facebook and Instagram to protect children from algorithmic addiction and predatory online harms [Sreerupa Chowdhury v. Union of India & Ors].

A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice V Mohana issued notice on the public interest litigation (PIL) which seeks a comprehensive regulatory framework to protect children from the harmful effects of social media platforms.

The PIL was filed by one Sreerupa Chowdhury alleging that platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp deliberately deploy compulsive-use mechanics known as "dark patterns". These features include infinite scrolling, auto-playing video reels, push notifications and variable reward systems designed to trigger dopamine loops.

It was contended that these algorithmic designs cause severe paediatric addiction, cognitive impairment, sleep deprivation, anxiety, depression, and self-harm ideation among adolescents.

The petitioner further raised concerns over deficient age-verification systems, allowing children under 13 to access the platforms unchecked. It was alleged that the platforms have created a permissive environment for online grooming and Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), violating mandates under the Information Technology Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The petitioner submitted that while Meta has agreed to safety-by-design safeguards in Western jurisdictions under regulatory pressure, it has failed to deploy similar protections in India.

Hence, the plea said that directions should be issued to the government and regulatory authorities to audit the platforms' algorithmic systems, enforce effective age-verification mechanisms and introduce safeguards against compulsive use and the exposure of children to harmful content.

The petitioner was represented by Senior Advocate Geeta Luthra, along with advocates Shambo Nandy, Daksh Sharma, Shivani Luthra, Manas Agrawal, Adarsh Kothari, Pranjal Pandey, Rishabh Dahiya, Varnika Bhardwaj, Parth Tanwar, Devansh Tiwari and Prachi Sharma.

Pertinently, last month, the Supreme Court had issued notice on a similar petition filed by Indore-based Emerald Heights International School and its Director Siddharth Singh.

That plea sought directions to the Centre and the NCPCR to formulate a comprehensive regulatory framework restricting children's access to social media to shield them from cyberbullying, sexual exploitation, and compulsive digital dependency.