A public interest litigation has been moved before the Delhi High Court seeking financial compensation from major technology firms, including Meta, Google, Telegram, X, and Snapchat, over allegations that their platforms employ deliberately addictive design mechanisms that harm young users’ mental health.
The petition, initiated by law professor Dr. Vikas Kathuria, is slated to be heard by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia. The plea urges judicial intervention to curb engagement-driven interface designs until the legislature enacts dedicated statutory regulations.
Focus on Platform Architecture Over Content
The petition contends that the primary issue rests not with the content hosted on social networks, but with their technical architecture. Mechanisms such as infinite scrolling, automated video playback, personalized algorithmic feeds, persistent push notifications, and variable reward metrics like “likes” are identified as deliberate engineering choices aimed at maximizing engagement and advertising revenue at the expense of user wellbeing.
According to the plea, existing Indian legislation addresses only unlawful or harmful online content, leaving platform design architecture unregulated. The petitioner points out that several foreign jurisdictions have already established a functional legal distinction between user content and interface architecture.
Impact on Indian Youth and Global Precedents
Highlighting the domestic context, the filing notes that Indian users aged 18 to 24 spend upwards of 120 minutes daily on social media. It references clinical findings linking prolonged platform usage to depression and suicide among adolescents, calling for an appropriate expert body to examine these interface systems.
The petition argues that technology conglomerates must be held to the same standards in India as in other global jurisdictions. As an example, it cites Meta Platforms’ agreement to pay 17 billion dollars and introduce supplementary child-safety measures on Facebook and Instagram to settle claims brought by 47 US states regarding teen social media addiction.
Interim Guidelines and Compensation Sought
The plea requests the high court to direct social media companies to restrict, regulate, or eliminate engagement-maximizing features such as algorithmic curation, autoplay, and continuous notifications.
Furthermore, the petitioner asks the court to institute binding interim guidelines on platform design architecture until Parliament passes relevant legislation, and to award damages against the tech companies to compensate affected users, particularly children, for psychological and physiological harm.
