India is studying imposing age restrictions for access to social networks, reported the Minister of Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, during the Summit on the Impact of Artificial Intelligence. According to RFI and reported by the Argentine News Agency, Vaishnaw stated: "This is something that many countries have already adopted: age-based regulation" and added that the country is holding discussions about deepfakes and age restrictions with platforms to define "the correct way to address this". Last December, Australia implemented a rule that forces platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat to delete the accounts of teenagers or face heavy financial penalties. Recently, the Spanish government president, socialist Pedro Sánchez, announced that he wants to prohibit access to social networks for those under 16 years of age to protect them from a world of "pornography" and "violence". Vaishnaw also advocates for stricter supervision of manipulated online content. "And certainly, there is a need to protect our children, to protect our society from these harms," he added. Last week, India tightened the rules governing artificial intelligence. It now requires social media platforms to clearly label AI-generated content and remove it within three hours when requested for violating the law. Stricter regulation in the world's most populous country increases the pressure on social media giants, which are under public scrutiny for the misuse of artificial intelligence, especially for the spread of disinformation and sexualized images of minors. However, human rights groups believe there is a risk of eroding freedom of expression and accuse India of silencing activists and opponents. The government of nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi denies this. The country has dropped in global press freedom rankings during Modi's term. The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), a digital rights group, estimates that the three-hour deadline for removing content forces platforms to become "censors". "We need much stricter regulation on deepfakes," he said. "I think it's a problem that grows day by day."
