Only kids-focused sites may gain from age-gating tweak in data bill

Internet giants like Facebook and Google may not benefit from a new clause in the latest Data Bill that seeks to lower the age of consent to below 18 years for certain companies which can show that they process data in a “verifiably safe” manner, a senior government official told ET.

The clause will be open only to some platforms that are “totally child-focussed” like edtech and health tech, the official said. These platforms can apply to be notified by the government as “extremely safe” for children. It won’t be “applicable to significant social media intermediaries (SSMIs)”, the official added.