India

National jurisdiction · as of 2026-09-07

India binds a publisher of online curated content (an on-demand audio-visual catalogue transmitted over the internet) to an age-classification and access-control duty under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. No social-media minor-access restriction, app-store age-verification requirement, or age-appropriate design code binding a private service was found.

The Cinematograph Act, 1952, as amended by the Cinematograph (Amendment) Act, 2023, empowers the Central Board of Film Certification to classify a cinema film into "U", "U/A" (with a marker), "A" or "S" certificate categories before public exhibition, but its own text, as read in an amendment-consolidated copy carrying OCR artefacts, states a certification and labelling duty running to the Board rather than a point-of-admission access-control duty running to a cinema exhibitor; the numeric UA sub-markers the 2023 amendment introduced are populated by the delegated Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 2024, whose provisions are not described here.

A labelling or certification duty alone, without a located access-control duty on a private exhibitor or distributor, is not recorded as an instrument here.

01

Instruments on record

Online Curated Content Age Classification and Access-Control Duty

In force

Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, rules 8-9 and Appendix, Code of Ethics Part II(B)-(D)

Effective 2021-02-25 · Applies to private

Rule 8 binds a publisher of online curated content, defined as one who, performing a significant role in determining the content made available, makes available to users a computer resource enabling access to online curated content over the internet. Rule 9 requires that publisher to observe the Code of Ethics in the Appendix.

That Code classifies all such content into a "U" rating suitable for all ages, with tiered "U/A 7+", "U/A 13+" and "U/A 16+" ratings viewable below the stated age with parental guidance. It also sets an "A" rating restricted to adults, a person the Rules define as eighteen years or older. A publisher making available content classified U/A 13+ or higher must ensure access control mechanisms, including parental locks, are available for it.

A publisher making available "A"-rated content must implement a reliable age-verification mechanism for its viewership. Every publisher offering "A"-rated content must take all efforts to restrict a child's access to it through appropriate access-control measures. The Rules have applied since their own commencement, 25 February 2021, the date of their Official Gazette publication.

Age threshold18
Enforcement bodyMinistry of Information and Broadcasting, through the Rules' three-tier self-regulation and Oversight Mechanism

Source: Full text of law