Govt Crackdown: Meta To Report Child Safety Cases Directly To Indian Cybercrime Portal

Amid a government crackdown on child sexual abuse and other harmful content online, Meta has agreed to report child safety-related matters directly to the cybercrime portal managed by the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), as the Centre pushes social media platforms for stronger safeguards and greater accountability.

A spokesperson for Meta said protecting children on the platforms is a priority for the company and added, "We're committed to working with the government to ensure that the perpetrators of these crimes are held responsible".

"To collectively strengthen our efforts to combat this harm, Meta will now report child safety matters directly to the cybercrime portal managed by I4C," the spokesperson said.

US-headquartered Meta is the first major tech intermediary to commit to establishing a direct reporting pipeline to Indian law enforcement. As of now, Meta reports child safety cases to the US-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Earlier on Tuesday, government sources said Meta has agreed to report child safety-related matters to appropriate law enforcement agencies. Sources had asserted that online safety of children is a "fundamental principle" for any social media platform operating in India and absolutely "non-negotiable".

The government will take action against platforms that fail to take proactive steps to ensure children's safety online, the sources said, underlining its tough stance on platforms' responsibility to protect minors from harmful content and activity.

The government also remains engaged with other online platforms to ensure that they proactively identify and remove such content, the sources added.

According to sources, Meta's pledge to report child sexual abuse cases to law enforcement agencies is the first step towards making the platforms safe for children, and much more needs to be done.

The Indian government is continuously engaging with social media platforms to curb harmful content, and efforts are on to ensure all platforms proactively identify and remove such material, sources added.

The government has stepped up scrutiny of social media platforms over harmful and illegal online content, including child sexual abuse material and deepfakes.

It had also issued notice to Meta over its handling of such content and recently summoned the social media giant's global executives to India, as the Centre pressed all platforms for faster takedown of harmful content, stronger safeguards and greater accountability, clearly warning them that failure to comply with Indian law will not be tolerated.

In July, the government issued a notice to Meta on Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM) in paid advertisements on Instagram. MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) had ordered Instagram to disable all ads and content promoting and facilitating access to CSEAM, and demanded a detailed explanation.

Multiple rounds of discussions with Meta top executives followed, where the IT Ministry made it unequivocally clear that such content constitutes a violation and cannot be covered by safe-harbour protection.

Earlier this month, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) summoned the Managing Director and Head of Meta India in connection with its inquiry into alleged advertisements related to child sexual exploitative and abuse material (CSEAM) on the platform.

The child rights body had taken suo motu cognisance of a media report by BBC Eye regarding alleged advertisements related to CSEAM and sought an explanation from Meta.