A Comparative Study of Social Media and Data Privacy of Minor in India and Australia

Abstract

Social media has become an important space for education, expression, friendship and entertainment, yet its business model frequently depends upon the continuous collection and analysis of user data. Children are especially vulnerable because they may disclose personal information without understanding how long it will remain available, how it may be combined with other data, or how recommendation and advertising systems influence their choices. This paper comparatively examines the protection of minors’ personal data on social media in India and Australia. It adopts a doctrinal and comparative method and studies the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 in India, together with Australia’s Privacy Act 1988, Online Safety Act 2021, Social Media Minimum Age scheme and proposed Children’s Online Privacy Code. The study finds that India has chosen a broad, parental-consent model covering every person below eighteen, coupled with  prohibitions on detrimental processing, behavioural monitoring and targeted advertising. However, the principal child-data obligations are subject to phased commencement and are not yet operative as at the date of this paper. Australia presently combines general privacy principles with an operational platform duty to prevent under-sixteen users from holding accounts on age restricted social media platforms. Its model gives particular attention to privacy-preserving age assurance and is moving towards a detailed, child-centred online privacy code. The paper argues that neither access restriction nor parental consent alone is sufficient. Effective protection requires data minimisation, child-friendly transparency, limits on profiling, independent supervision, accessible remedies and meaningful recognition of the evolving capacities of adolescents.