Acting on a PIL filed by an Indore-based school, the Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre and the national child rights body to spell out their views on putting in place a comprehensive and enforceable national framework to protect children from the risks associated with social media platforms.A bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued notices to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Law and Justice, and National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), and posted the matter for hearing on December 7.Describing protection of minors from online harms as a constitutional responsibility of the State, Emerald Heights International School, Indore, and its director of academics, Siddharth Singh Girnar contended that it can’t be left solely to parental supervision or voluntary safeguards adopted by technology companies.The petition sought a comprehensive and enforceable regulatory framework to protect children from risks associated with social media, including cyberbullying, sexual exploitation, exposure to age-inappropriate and harmful content, behavioural profiling, compulsive-use design and other harms associated with commercial social media platforms.It demanded mandatory age verification, age-appropriate access, verifiable parental consent and stronger safeguards against cyberbullying, sexual exploitation, harmful content and excessive platform use and a direction to the Centre to frame, notify and operationalise a dedicated, comprehensive and enforceable regulatory framework for the protection of children from harms arising from their access to and use of social media platforms.Schools and parents cannot tackle the problem independently because the risks are linked not only to the content available online but also to the design and operation of platforms that encourage prolonged engagement, the PIL submitted.On September 10, the top court had agreed to examine a PIL filed by NGO Just Rights for Children Alliance seeking safeguards for minors accessing social media and other digital platforms and to ensure that no such platform enters into a contract with a child below 18 years of age.“There is a need for some safeguards in India. Some firewall is necessary for protecting our children,” the CJI had said while issuing notice to the Centre on the PIL.