LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday sought replies from the federal government and other authorities on a petition seeking a ban on the use of social media by children under the age of 16.

Chief Justice Aalia Neelum heard a public interest petition filed by Aliya Saleem, a minor student, and Kausar Abbas, the executive director of an NGO.

The chief justice observed that this is an important matter and a policy issue that should be addressed by the government.

Advocate Shiza Qureshi on behalf of the petitioners pointed out that social media is causing serious harm to the mental, moral and educational development of children. She said that developed countries are considering restrictions on social media use by underage children.

She further informed the court that Australia imposed a ban on children’s use of social media in December 2025, while France, Norway, Malaysia and New Zealand are in the process of legislating on the matter.

She pointed out that Pakistan witnessed a disturbing pattern of fatal incidents directly linked to social media-driven risk taking by underage users.

She said several minors lost their lives while filming or live-streaming stunts for social media platforms.

The counsel said the petitioners had previously approached the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) seeking a ban on the use of social media by minors, but no response had been received, reflecting lack of seriousness of the authority.

She asked the court to order a ban on social media use for children under 16 years of age.

She further urged the court to order a comprehensive policy for enforcement of the proposed age-based restrictions including mandatory introduction of robust age verification systems and legally enforceable parental consent mechanism for all social media platforms operating within Pakistan.

The chief justice directed a law officer to seek instructions from the government and the PTA and file replies by Feb 16.

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2026