India asks X, YouTube, Telegram to remove child sexual abuse

Mumbai:

India has sent notices to social media platforms X, formerly known as Twitter, YouTube and Telegram, asking them to ensure that their platforms But there is no child sexual abuse content.

The government said in a statement that companies could be stripped of their protection from legal liability if they do not comply.

The notices sent by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) emphasized the importance of immediate and permanent removal of child sexual exploitation content on the platform.

“If they do not act swiftly, their safe harbor under Section 79 of the IT Act will be withdrawn and consequences under Indian law,” junior information technology minister Rajiv Chandrasekhar said in a statement. said

The government said Chandrasekhar had been a vocal advocate for removing such content from the Internet in India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government was “committed to creating a secure and trusted Internet under IT laws.”

Telegram said child abuse content is expressly prohibited by its terms of service.

Telegram’s moderators actively patrol public areas of the platform and accept user reports to remove content that violates our terms.

A spokesperson for Google-owned YouTube said: “We have a zero-tolerance policy for child sexual exploitation content. We do not accept any form of content that puts minors at risk.”

YouTube also said it had removed more than 94,000 channels and more than 2.5 million videos for violating child protection policies in the third quarter of 2023.

Representatives for X did not respond to a request for comment.

The government, in the notices, also asked the companies to take measures such as content moderation algorithms and reporting mechanisms to prevent the dissemination of child sexual exploitation content in the future.

Reuters Reported In July, India told online streamers such as Netflix and Disney that their content must be independently reviewed for obscenity and violence before being shown online.