New Delhi: Nominated Rajya Sabha MP Sudha Murty Friday mooted the idea of a regulatory framework to end the growing commodification of children in digital spaces.
Murty, while speaking during Zero Hour in Parliament, highlighted how children are portrayed on social media platforms, the lack of regulation on the same and the need to inculcate a good value system among the younger generation.
“Children are our future, and we should develop our children in good value systems, good education, sports, and many other activities. Every drop of water, maybe through a river, goes to the ocean—so are the children. How we bring them up, everything goes to their future,” she said.
Murty, an author and philanthropist, further flagged the issue of children as influencers as well as “mother influencers”.
“Use social media for betterment, but not by using children as influencers or mother influencers. There are so many such influencers without any regulation. I am requesting the Government of India, particularly regarding social media, to bring regulation on this,” she said.
Murty went on to say that there are many positives of social media but several negatives too.
“I am really worried about today’s scenario. In modern days, social media has become very popular. There are many advantages of social media which I don’t want to talk about here, but I want to talk about the other side of social media.”
“Many parents use their innocent children—they are not even aware of what they are doing. They are exposed to different types of costumes, dress, commercialisation, and put on social media so that they can have 10,000 or one million followers. This helps parents financially—I am aware of it,” she added.
The MP argued that such portrayal of children on social media in the long run affects the child’s psychology.
“But what happens to the child? The child will lose innocence. The child doesn’t give permission because the child is not aware of it. It will affect the child’s psychology in the long range. They will not learn how to do any social activities, sports, or even pursue good education. Children become a source of income to parents, who take advantage of social media,” she said.
Murty cited the example of France, which regulates how children are portrayed in digital spaces.
“In a country like France, a kind of regulation is there for children who are on social media—you can’t expose them in different costumes; you cannot take their pictures while they are taking bath because you never know, sometimes people with a bad mindset may use those photos for something else,” she said.
“Social media is like a knife, I consider, sir—you can cut a fruit or kill a person,” she added.
Murty lauded the government’s efforts in regulating such content in advertisements for children.
“Our government has done a fantastic work in regulating children’s advertisements, children working or acting in films, all those things they have taken care of and strict laws have been implemented,” she said.
However, when it comes to social media, Murty asserted, it has not been done and this is going to cause a “great problem in future for our children and it should be told to their parents also that there should be a restriction”.
“Certain methodologies should not be used. Children cannot use certain kinds of dress and dance, or certain kinds of dress for advertisement because this is not the way we can bring up the next generation of our children,” Murty added.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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