French President Emmanuel Macron reacted to India’s push for tighter online safeguards, thanking the country for “joining the movement” as New Delhi discusses age-based restrictions and deepfake regulation with social media companies.
Union IT and Information & Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday said the government is in active discussions with platforms on introducing age-based access controls and framing stronger rules to tackle deepfakes. Speaking at the India AI Impact Summit, Vaishnaw stressed the need for significantly stronger regulations to protect children and safeguard society from online harms.
He said the government is engaging with companies to determine the “right way to go” on deepfakes and age-based restrictions. “We need much stronger regulation on deepfakes. It is a problem growing day-by-day,” he said, adding that Parliament must build consensus for stricter curbs to shield society from such harms. He noted that a parliamentary committee has also studied the issue in depth.
Weeks ago, French lawmakers passed a bill that would ban social media use by under-15s, a move championed by President Emmanuel Macron as a way to protect children from excessive screen time.
Vaishnaw asserted that all companies, including Netflix, YouTube, Meta and X, must comply with India’s legal framework and the Constitution. He underlined that multinational firms must understand the cultural context of the countries in which they operate, as practices acceptable in one nation may be prohibited in another.
The minister pointed out that several countries, including Australia, France and the United Kingdom, have either introduced or proposed age restrictions and stricter parental consent norms to enhance online safety for children. He said India had already taken a forward-looking step under the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) legislation by introducing age-based differentiation for content accessible to young users.
Last month, the government’s Economic Survey, tabled in Parliament, recommended considering age-based access limits for online platforms to curb digital addiction. It suggested that platforms should enforce age verification and adopt age-appropriate defaults, particularly for social media, gambling apps, auto-play features and targeted advertising. The Survey also called for promoting simpler devices with safeguards for children accessing educational content.
On copyright and artificial intelligence, Vaishnaw said the issue remains complex because most AI models train on publicly available content. He emphasised that content creators, especially news creators, must receive fair remuneration for their work. The government, he said, believes public policy should ensure fair revenue distribution when digital platforms use conventional media content.
Vaishnaw added that the government remains in continuous dialogue with major technology platforms, many of which have shown willingness to establish mechanisms to ensure fair compensation for news creators.
