Meta Agrees To Report Child Sexual Abuse Cases Amid India Crackdown

Facebook's parent Meta has agreed to report child sexual abuse cases to law enforcement agencies amid the Centre's crackdown on social media platforms that do no ensure safety of children, sources have said. Online safety of children is a fundamental principle for any social media firm to operate in India and it's non-negotiable, officials said, adding they are continuously engaging with social media platforms to curb the circulation of harmful content.

In a first step towards making social media platforms safe for children, Meta will report all child safety matters to law enforcement agencies, though a lot more needs to be done, sources said. They said the Centre is continuously in talks with all other platforms to identify and remove such content.

Action will be taken against any platform that doesn't take proactive steps for the safety of children, they said. A Meta spokesperson said protecting children on their platforms is a priority for them. "We are 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 cyber crime portal managed by I4C," the spokesperson said. The development comes as the government continues to focus on improving accountability of digital platforms and ensuring that online intermediaries take adequate measures to prevent the spread of harmful content, especially content affecting children.

Representatives of Meta India were summoned by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) on September 9 in connection with an investigation into alleged advertisements related to child sexual exploitation and abuse material (CSEAM).

The NCPCR had taken up on its own a report by 'BBC Eye' that exposed alleged CSEAM advertisements on Meta-owned platforms and had issued a notice in July, seeking an explanation over the allegations. Meta submitted its response to the commission a week later.

After that, the NCPCR decided to launch a probe to ascertain the facts and circumstances surrounding the matter and had summoned the MD and head of Meta India to appear before it on September 9. The company officials were expected to give more information on the allegations as well as the company's formal response.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has also asked the Delhi Police to conduct a comprehensive probe into allegations that paid advertisements on Meta-owned Instagram promoted CSEAM in India. The NHRC told the police to check whether Meta and other similar platforms were compliant with mandatory reporting obligations under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.