The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has decided to write to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to mandate KYC-based verification of children’s age under the purview of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, as per a media report.
“Companies were warned and have been asked to verify children’s age as mentioned in Section 9 of the DPDP Act. We will make strong recommendations to the IT ministry regarding this and about mandating KYC-based norms for verifying the same,” said a source quoted by the news report.
As per the DPDP Act, Section 9, someone below the age of 18 must be verified, and their parental consent is mandatory to process their data.
Earlier, the IT ministry also held a meeting with social media platforms to explore ways to verify the children’s age. Aadhaar and Digilocker are considered, but found ineffective as a solid method for age verification.
The NCPCR has previously expressed concerns about the availability of adult content to minors and the lack of KYC-based systems for children on certain platforms. In March, Ullu, an OTT service preparing for an IPO and known for its adult-oriented films and series, faced scrutiny when the NCPCR asked MeitY to take action against the platform for allegedly allowing minors easy access to explicit content.
“The app is readily accessible on Google and Apple platforms and appears to lack KYC requirements for downloading or viewing any of its content in private groups,” NCPCR had noted in its communication to MeitY.
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