Supreme Court says children have a fundamental right to internet access, rejects blanket bans

The Supreme Court has ruled that access to and use of the internet is a fundamental right, and that children are entitled to it regardless of their age, while ordering tougher measures against online child sexual abuse material.

The order, passed on October 15 by a bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran, runs to more than 130 pages. It came on applications by the NGO Just Rights for Children Alliance, which told the court that online platforms had not done enough to comply with the court's 2024 directions on such material.

No blanket bans

The bench located the right in Article 21 read with Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. It held that a blanket ban on children's use of the internet or social media would be disproportionate, observing that no jurisdiction had shown such bans actually made children safer. The judges said bans could push children to less regulated platforms and discourage them from reporting abuse to trusted adults.

The court also flagged privacy concerns over age verification for every user. At the same time, it said age-appropriate safeguards remain valid, such as parental consent and supervision, child-friendly account settings, private accounts by default and limits on contact from unknown adults. The government may still restrict children's access to harmful categories such as adult websites.

Directions to the Centre and platforms

The court directed the Union government to set up a national database of digital identifiers and links of known abuse material, so that platforms can detect and remove matching content quickly. It asked the government to frame guidelines requiring technologies such as hash-matching, to consider heavy fines for platforms that breach their duties, and to provide free counselling for victims.

Platforms have been told to strengthen grievance systems, acknowledge complaints within 24 hours and publish monthly compliance reports. The Centre must file a compliance affidavit before the next hearing on December 10.

What it means for schools

Significantly for parents and teachers, the court asked that digital safety and age-appropriate sex education be built into the core school curriculum, to be developed by NCERT and state councils. The ruling shifts the focus from keeping children offline to making the online world safer for them, an approach that will shape how schools teach and supervise internet use.