Children in influencer ads in India: casting a child, targeting kids and collecting their data

A child can appear in a brand's creator content only within the Child and Adolescent Labour Act, an ad that addresses or uses children must meet rule 8 of the CCPA's 2022 guidelines and ASCI's Chapter III, and a child's data can be collected only with a parent's verifiable consent. Those are three separate rulebooks. They define a child differently: under 12 for ASCI, under 14 for the labour Act, and by reference to the Juvenile Justice Act for the CCPA. Apply the strictest to the campaign in front of you.

This post gives the rules one question at a time, for brand teams that sell to families or hire parent-creators. It sits under our ASCI influencer guidelines explainer and our guide to influencer marketing in India. Our post on DPDP and influencer marketing covers children's data in more depth, and our kids and toys playbook covers the category.

Who counts as a child

For a teen-audience campaign the consequence is plain. If the CCPA reading is right, an ad aimed at 15-year-olds is an ad that "addresses or targets" children under rule 8, even though ASCI's narrower definition would not call them children. We would rather brief to the broader rule.

Question 1: can a child be in the content?

Section 3(1) of the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, as amended from 1 September 2016, says no child shall be employed or permitted to work in any occupation or process. Section 3(2) lists exceptions. Two matter to a creator campaign:

• (a) a child helping the family or a family enterprise, other than in hazardous occupations, after school hours or during vacations;
• (b) a child who works as an artist in an audio-visual entertainment industry, including advertisement, films, television serials or other entertainment or sports activities except the circus, subject to prescribed conditions and safety measures, and with a proviso that the work shall not affect the child's school education.

The Act defines "artist" as a child who performs or practises any work, as a hobby or profession, directly as an actor, singer, sports person or in other prescribed entertainment or sports activity. Advertisement is named in the exception, so a child cast in your brand's paid creator video is within clause (b) and its conditions.

Two practical points follow.

1. The conditions live in rules we did not open. The Act says "as may be prescribed". The Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Rules, 2017, and guidance from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) on child participation in entertainment, set the permissions and safeguards. We could not open the Rules or NCPCR's guidelines from our network, so we do not summarise them. Have counsel read both before casting a child.
2. A family channel is not a safe harbour. Clause (a) is for a child helping a family enterprise. Whether a parent's paid social media channel qualifies is untested, and a brand's ad is a commercial engagement with a clear brand client. Our reading is to treat a child in a paid brand ad as clause (b), not clause (a).

Penalties

Section 14(1) punishes whoever employs a child or permits a child to work in contravention of section 3 with imprisonment from six months to two years, or a fine of ₹20,000 to ₹50,000, or both. Parents or guardians are not punished unless they permit the child to work for commercial purposes in contravention of section 3, and section 14(1B) shields them for a first offence. Who "employs" a child in a creator campaign is not obvious: the brand, the agency and the parent-creator all have a hand in the shoot. Write the allocation into the contract, and do not leave it to the creator.

Question 2: what may an ad that features or targets children say?

Rule 8(1) of the CCPA's 2022 guidelines lists what an advertisement that addresses, targets or uses children shall not do. The items most relevant to a creator script are:

Rule 8(2) adds two bars: ads that develop a negative body image in children, and ads that suggest a product is better than natural or traditional food a child may be eating. Rule 8(3) bars junk food advertisements during a programme meant for children or on a channel meant exclusively for them, which is written for television, so use it as a signal for creator content aimed at kids. Rule 8(4) says promotional gifts that persuade children to buy without necessity, or promote illogical consumerism, shall be discouraged.

PIB's release on the guidelines summarises the same rules: no exaggerated features that lead to unrealistic expectations, no health or nutritional claims without scientific substantiation by a recognised body, and no sports, music or cinema personalities for products that require a health warning or that children cannot buy.

ASCI's Chapter III

ASCI's Code adds that advertisements addressed to children shall not contain anything, whether in illustration or otherwise, that might result in their physical, mental or moral harm, or exploit their vulnerability. Its examples include not encouraging children to enter strange places or talk to strangers to collect coupons, not featuring dangerous acts they might copy, and not showing children using matches, sharp knives or electrical appliances in a careless way. It bars featuring children for tobacco or alcohol-based products and featuring sports and entertainment personalities for products that require a health warning. ASCI's gender-stereotype guidelines add that children's ads should not suggest a product, pursuit or career is inappropriate for one gender.

We found nothing in ASCI's influencer guidelines that deals with child creators specifically. The general rules above apply, plus the usual label for any material connection.

Question 3: what about their data?

PIB reported on 25 March 2026, citing the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, that the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and its Rules require verifiable consent of parents or lawful guardians before processing a child's personal data, and prohibit tracking, behavioural monitoring and targeted advertising directed at children. Press reports put the main data-fiduciary duties, including those on children's data, at about May 2027, so the habits can be built now.

For a creator campaign the exposure sits in four places:

• Contest and giveaway entries, especially "tag a friend" and sign-up forms where a child may enter.
• Link-in-bio sign-ups and store-visit forms for a kids' product.
• Retargeting of viewers of a kids' content creator, which may amount to targeted advertising aimed at children.
• Community groups, such as a WhatsApp group for a young audience.

Set an age gate where you collect data, route anything for under-18s through a parent, and do not retarget audiences you know are mostly children. Our post on DPDP and influencer marketing has clause suggestions.

A brief for a family brand

1. Decide the audience age band and the strictest definition that touches it.
2. Cast adult parent-creators who speak to parents, not a child who sells to peers, unless the product needs it. Our parenting and baby page and micro and nano influencer service describe how we cast.
3. If a child must appear, get counsel to confirm the child-artist conditions, written parental consent, a school-hours rule and a shoot-day limit.
4. Use the rule 8 table as an approval check on every script and cut.
5. Keep health, nutrition and intelligence claims to what the label and proof support. See food claims and cosmetics claims.
6. Gate data collection by age and consent.
7. Keep the evidence file and approve the final cut, as in our compliance checklist. If a post goes wrong, see brand liability.

What we could not source

We did not open the Child and Adolescent Labour Rules, 2017, NCPCR's child-participation guidelines, section 2(12) of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, the DPDP Act and Rules themselves (we rely on PIB's summary), or any platform's minimum-age policy. Whether a social media channel is an "audio-visual entertainment industry" for clause (b) is not something we found settled.

If you are planning a family or kids' category campaign, send us a brief and we will map the age rules before shortlisting creators.

This is general information, not legal advice.