“India must consider Australia’s model for Child Internet Safety”, says HC

Recently, in a significant public interest intervention concerning child safety in the digital space, the Madras High Court has stepped in to flag serious gaps in how children’s internet usage is currently regulated, calling upon the Union Government to consider legislative measures akin to Australia’s model. The Court examined whether existing mechanisms are sufficient to shield minors from harmful online content and indicated that the issue demands urgent policy attention beyond routine website blocking.

The controversy began with a public interest litigation filed by S. Vijayakumar, who raised an alarm over the ease with which children can access pornographic and abusive material online. The petitioner argued that rising internet penetration, coupled with the absence of effective parental control tools, had left minors dangerously exposed. He sought directions to the National and State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights to compel internet service providers to offer a parental window, enabling parents to regulate content accessed by their children. While authorities pointed to periodic blocking of objectionable websites under the IT Rules, the petitioner maintained that backend regulation alone was insufficient without safeguards at the user level.

The Division Bench of Justice G. Jayachandran and Justice K.K. Ramakrishnan acknowledged that although intermediaries block reported content, the larger problem persists at the household level. The Court noted that children remain uniquely vulnerable online and observed that “as far as children are concerned, the vulnerability is high, so the parents’ responsibility is higher.” Emphasising that awareness and user-end controls are critical, the Bench suggested that the Union of India may explore legislation similar to Australia to regulate children’s internet access. Until such a law is enacted, the Court directed authorities to intensify awareness campaigns through all available media and urged both Central and State Child Rights Commissions to draw up and implement a concrete action plan.

Consequently, the writ petition was disposed of with these observations and directions.

Case Title: S. Vijayakumar v. Union of India & Ors.

Case No.: W.P.(MD) No. 23323 of 2018

Coram: Justice G. Jayachandran and Justice K.K. Ramakrishnan

Advocate for the Petitioner: Senior Advocate K.P.S. Palanivel

Advocate for the Respondents: AGP J.Ashok, Advs. B.Deepa, Chevanan Mohan, Madhan babu, R.G.Shankar Ganesh, M.D.Poornachare

Read Order@ Latestlaws.com