Meta agrees to report child sexual abuse cases amid Centre crackdown
The move comes as the government presses social media platforms to proactively detect and remove harmful content and strengthen safeguards for children
Meta has agreed to report child safety-related matters to appropriate law enforcement agencies, government sources said on Tuesday (September 15), asserting 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.
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According to sources, Meta has agreed to report child sexual abuse cases to law enforcement agencies. This is a first step towards making the platforms safe for children and much more needs to be done, they added.
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 a 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 takedowns of harmful content, stronger safeguards and greater accountability, clearly warning them that failure to comply with Indian law will not be tolerated.