Overview
- The Islamabad High Court issued formal notices to the ministries of IT, Information, Interior and Law plus PTA and PEMRA on Monday and directed them to submit replies to a petition within 15 days.
- During the hearing Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar questioned PEMRA about any child‑specific law and the petitioner’s counsel said no such legislation exists and that PEMRA mainly acts on complaints.
- The petition filed by Waqas Nasir through counsel seeks an effective age‑verification system for accounts of children under 16 and a comprehensive legal and regulatory framework to protect minors from cyberbullying, grooming, harmful content and related harms.
- The Punjab Assembly unanimously passed a resolution on Tuesday urging the Centre to ban or legally restrict social media accounts for under‑16s, require reliable age checks and oblige platforms to meet child‑protection standards.
- Practical hurdles ahead include whether the federal government will draft new national law, how reliable age checks can be built without harming privacy, and whether regulators have the enforcement capacity to make platforms comply once the IHC receives the agencies’ replies.