India’s BRICS chairship this year brings focus to the varied approaches member countries take toward child online safety, ahead of the 18th BRICS Summit on September 12 and 13. While all members agree on protecting children online, their regulations differ significantly, with India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act requiring verifiable parental consent for all users under 18, unlike other members’ age-specific restrictions, according to medianama.com.
The divergence stems from differing underlying theories on what children need protection from. Brazil links social media accounts of under-16s to legal guardians, China limits daily app use for under-18s and restricts service hours, and Indonesia allows 14-year-olds on low-risk platforms with parental consent but not on high-risk ones. India’s law, by contrast, applies a uniform parental consent rule for all minors, regardless of age, reflecting a distinct regulatory philosophy, medianama.com reports.
This regulatory patchwork complicates efforts to harmonize child online protection within BRICS. The 2025 Rio de Janeiro declaration acknowledged progress and called for knowledge exchange among member states, but the practical impact is limited given the fundamental statutory differences. India’s chairship highlights these challenges as the grouping seeks to balance data protection, usage limits, and parental control frameworks across diverse legal systems, medianama.com explains.
The 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12 and 13 will provide a platform for member states to discuss these issues. The summit’s agenda includes advancing cooperation on child online safety, with India positioned to influence the dialogue through its distinct regulatory stance documented in the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, medianama.com states.