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Protecting Children Online: Supreme Court's Approach to Digital Safety | Landmark Judgement 15 Oct 2026 | Internet is Fundamental Right for Children | Child Mode Explained | UPSC GS2 Big Breaking for UPSC 2026! Supreme Court Bench of Justice JB Pardiwala & Justice K Vinod Chandran delivers historic verdict in Just Rights for Children Alliance & Anr. v. S. Harish & Ors. Case | SC on CSEAM & Child Online Safety. SC OBSERVATION: "The safety of our children and their freedom are not at odds with each other. Our children are entitled to both." What Supreme Court Said? 1. INTERNET IS FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT FOR CHILDREN: SC held right to access and use internet is fundamental right under Article 21 (Right to Life & Personal Liberty) read with Article 19(1)(a) (Freedom of Speech & Expression). Children irrespective of age enjoy same rights. Denying internet altogether would be as absurd as saying children below certain age do not have a conscience worth protecting or freedom of speech worth expressing. 2. NO BLANKET BAN ON CHILDREN: SC strongly rejected demand to ban social media/internet for children below certain age (petition by Emerald Heights International School, Indore before CJI Surya Kant). Court said blanket restriction is NOT the answer because: - It blames victim instead of intermediaries who failed to remove harmful content - Children will shift to more dangerous, unregulated dark websites - Abuse victims will fear reporting to parents if they violated ban - It denies children right to education, information, social connection 3. FOCUS ON PERPETRATORS, NOT CHILDREN: In CSEAM (Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Material) cases, real culprits are those who CREATE, CIRCULATE, SELL, SEEK such material and INTERMEDIARIES (Social Media Platforms) who fail to detect & remove it under IT Act, 2000 & POCSO Act. Safety measures must target harmful material. 4. MAJOR DIRECTIONS TO CENTRE & SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS: - Create National Database of verified digital identifiers, perceptual hashes, URLs of CSEAM - Database to be housed in Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) Sahyog Portal or separate repository with NCRB, MHA - Strengthen detection, reporting, takedown mechanism under IT Rules 2021, Intermediary Guidelines - Implement 'CHILD MODE' for social media accounts: Privacy by default, Contact limits (unknown users), Moderated content, Age-appropriate feed, Parental consent & guidance, not complete denial - Age-appropriate digital literacy on consent, privacy, reporting abuse via 1098 Childline - Fast-track courts for POCSO, mandatory reporting by intermediaries to National Cyber Crime Portal UPSC Relevance - Why in News? Very Important for Prelims & Mains GS2: Fundamental Rights Article 19, 21, Protection of Children, POCSO Act 2012, IT Act 2000, SC Judgements, NCPCR, WCD Ministry, I4C, Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 GS3: Cyber Security, CSEAM, Intermediary Liability, Role of Social Media Vajirao & Reddy Institute - India's Top Potential Training Institute for IAS | Best Current Affairs Analysis for UPSC 2026. #ProtectingChildrenOnline #DigitalSafety #SupremeCourt #ChildSafety #CSEAM #ChildMode #InternetIsFundamentalRight #Article21 #Article19 #JustRightsForChildrenAlliance #PardiwalaJudgement #ChildRights #OnlineSafety #POCSO #CyberCrime #UPSC2026 #CurrentAffairs2026 #GS2 #NCPCR #ITRules #I4C #SahyogPortal #ChildProtection #RightToInternet #VajiraoAndReddyInstitute