The Ministry for Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) recently released draft rules proposing amendments to the Information Technology Rules, 2021. The rules were unveiled for response and public consultations.

Now, reports of new rules being planned and to be released are surfacing. The new rules will presumably limit the amount of time children can spend on a gaming app with the goal to prevent gaming addiction, particularly among them.

A source who is aware of the situation told The Economic Times that the impending Digital India Act is anticipated to include the new rules.

It’s possible that MeitY, which is formulating these regulations, will also include clauses mandating game developers to implement safeguards that prohibit players under the age of 18 from making in-game purchases. The source said that these clauses would also be included in the proposed gaming regulations that were published on Monday.

Previously, the Minister of State (MoS) for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar had responded to a series of questions posed in the Lok Sabha. One of the questions was regarding the limit on gaming for children under the age of 18. Chandrasekhar responded by saying that at that moment the Government was not considering any legislation that would restrict how much time players could spend playing online games.

A senior government official said, “Addiction has to be dealt with — whether we do it partly in the IT Rules and partly in the Digital India Act, it is going to be done. We are dealing with issues that need very new, innovative solutions.”

The official further stated that they will work with gaming companies and take response from parents and work towards the new rules. This can be done by requesting usage disclosure for users under the age of 18.

“There is no point telling a child that they played a game for certain hours last week because then it becomes a sort of a competition for them to play more,” another official said.

The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) has raised concerns over the new draft rules calling them unconstitutional as the rules vest vast powers with the Union Government “to both classify online gaming intermediaries & exercise regulation over KYC processes, all in the absence of any clear legislative basis”.