{
  "id": 7955369,
  "title": "Does Centre plan to regulate addictive features on social media: HC",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/17/does-centre-plan-to-regulate-addictive-features-on-social-media-hc",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-09-17T04:59:35.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Hindu Health",
    "slug": "the-hindu-health",
    "url": "https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/delhi-hc-asks-government-if-it-is-contemplating-policy-to-regulate-addiction-causing-features-on-social-media-apps/article71471823.ece"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "On September 16, 2026, the Delhi High Court inquired about the possibility of the Central Government developing a policy to regulate addictive design elements on social media platforms. The court's bench of Justices Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Amit Sharma directed the Additional Solicitor General, Chetan Sharma, to investigate the matter further. Sharma suggested that the petitioner could submit a formal request to the government.\n\nThe petitioner, Vikas Kathuria, a law professor, argued that the core issue lies not in the content of social media platforms, but in their architectural design, which exploits human psychology to foster addiction. This includes features like infinite scroll, autoplay, algorithmically curated feeds, notification systems, and reward-based engagement metrics such as \"likes.\" These elements are said to captivate, retain, and repeatedly stimulate users' attention.\n\nStatistics highlighted in the petition indicate that Indian youths between the ages of 18 and 24 spend an average of over 120 minutes daily on social media. Clinical research has linked excessive social media use to depression and suicide among adolescents. The petition requested the court to direct the Central Government and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights to limit, prohibit, or regulate these addictive design features.",
  "summary": "The bench said it would hear the PIL seeking constitution of an expert committee to examine engagement-maximising and addiction-causing design features after three weeks",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}