Meta agrees to report child sexual abuse, safety cases to Indian authorities

Meta has agreed to report cases involving child sexual abuse and related safety concerns to the appropriate law enforcement agencies in India as the government intensifies its engagement with social media companies over harmful online content.

The move follows increased scrutiny of the US technology company over allegations that child sexual abuse material (CSAM) was circulated or promoted through paid advertisements on Instagram.

Government sources said protecting children online was a fundamental and non-negotiable responsibility of every social media platform operating in India. Meta’s commitment was described as an initial step towards strengthening safeguards for young users.

Social media services can be misused to distribute CSAM or facilitate other forms of child exploitation. Directly reporting suspected cases to law enforcement agencies would ensure that such incidents are not handled solely through platforms’ internal content-moderation systems.

The government, however, said further measures were required. Discussions are continuing with other social media companies on proactively identifying and removing harmful material.

Authorities have also warned that action could be taken against platforms that fail to introduce adequate preventive measures to protect children online.

The development comes amid growing international concern over the risks children face on social media, including sexual exploitation, exposure to harmful content and online abuse.

In India, social media companies operate under the Information Technology Act and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which prescribe due-diligence requirements for online intermediaries.

Separately, an investigation by the Tech Transparency Project alleged that Meta ran more than 300 advertisements containing AI-generated child sexual abuse material. The organisation claimed Facebook and Instagram carried paid advertisements featuring CSAM this year, including artificially manipulated images of real children.

With IANS inputs