India and other BRICS countries adopted a declaration on September 13, 2026, in New Delhi committing to ensuring a safe digital environment for children. The declaration, however, does not mention any specific laws, regulators, or timelines, nor does it include the phrase "age verification," despite the focus on child safety in digital spaces, according to medianama.com.
The declaration’s child safety commitment is limited to a single sentence emphasizing proactive measures, awareness-raising, prevention, exchange of best practices, capacity-building, and user-centric protection. This contrasts with India’s existing Code of Ethics under the IT Rules, 2021, which mandates a "reliable age verification mechanism" for accessing adult-rated streaming content. Yet, five years after the rule’s introduction, no standards have been published to define what constitutes reliable age verification, medianama.com reports.
The timing of the BRICS declaration follows a Supreme Court notice to the Indian government on a petition seeking mandatory age verification and verified parental control for children’s digital accounts. The declaration’s broad language falls short of addressing these judicial concerns or providing a framework for enforceable age verification, highlighting a gap between policy rhetoric and regulatory action. The Rio de Janeiro declaration of 2025 had similarly emphasized progress on child online protection through knowledge exchange and best practices.
Paragraph 80 of the BRICS declaration extends the commitment to digital safety beyond children to senior citizens and vulnerable groups, calling for targeted preventive and awareness-raising measures. The declaration’s adoption in New Delhi on September 13, 2026, marks the latest multilateral effort on digital safety, though concrete regulatory steps remain pending, medianama.com states.