The Research Dialogue

Author : Dr. Surendra Kumar

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64880/theresearchdialogue.v4i4.31

Abstract

Digital technologies have become integral to children’s education, recreation, communication and access to information. During ordinary online activity, however, applications, educational platforms, games, connected devices and social-media services may collect children’s names, images, location, browsing behaviour, contact information, biometrics and inferred interests. Such data may be used for profiling, targeted advertising, recommendation systems and automated decision-making. Children are especially vulnerable because they may not understand the future consequences of disclosure, possess limited bargaining power and remain dependent upon adults and institutions for protection.

This article examines children’s online privacy as a constitutional and child-rights issue, with particular reference to India. It adopts a qualitative and doctrinal methodology based on the Constitution of India, Supreme Court privacy jurisprudence, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025, the Information Technology Act and Rules, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and international child-rights standards. The study finds that the Indian constitutional framework can protect children’s dignity, autonomy, equality, development and informational privacy through Articles 14, 19 and 21, read with Article 21A and the Directive Principles concerning child welfare.

The Digital Personal Data Protection Act creates important child-specific obligations, including verifiable parental consent and prohibitions on harmful processing, behavioural monitoring and targeted advertising. As of August 2026, however, these substantive provisions had not yet commenced; they are scheduled to become effective eighteen months after the Gazette notification of 13 November 2025. The article argues that parental consent alone cannot secure children’s privacy. India requires age-appropriate design, data minimisation, child-accessible notices, stronger safeguards for educational technology, independent audits, proportionate age assurance and remedies that recognise children’s evolving capacities.

Keywords: Children’s privacy, constitutional protection, personal data, online platforms, parental consent, digital rights, age-appropriate design.