Nearly a month before two Indian states announced restrictions on children’s access to social media, the February 2026 cover story of EducationWorld had already raised alarm about the harmful impact of Big Tech platforms on young minds and urged urgent regulation in India.

The magazine’s cover carried the headline “Emergency! Ban Big Tech Mind Blowing India’s Children & Youth”, highlighting global concerns about social media addiction among minors. The article examined how platform features such as algorithmic feeds, infinite scrolling and validation loops encourage prolonged usage and negatively affect children’s mental health, learning outcomes and attention spans.

The cover story cited the landmark Australian law — the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Age) Act — which requires global tech companies such as Meta, Google, X and ByteDance to prevent children under 16 from accessing social media platforms.

Weeks later, policy action followed in India. Reports in The Times of India said that Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have announced plans to restrict children’s social media access — becoming the first states in the country to take such a step.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said Andhra Pradesh will ban social media use for children below 13 within 90 days, while also examining whether the restriction should extend to teenagers aged 13–16.

In Karnataka, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced that children below 16 will not be allowed to use social media platforms, though they may still possess mobile phones.

The close timing between the EducationWorld cover story and the policy announcements highlights the growing urgency of addressing children’s exposure to addictive digital platforms and underscores the magazine’s early thought leadership on the issue.

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