The Supreme Court has expressed concern over the alleged availability of child abuse content on social media and sought a response from the Centre over alleged violations by intermediaries in reporting such cases.
NEW DELHI — The Supreme Court has expressed concern over the alleged availability of child abuse content on social media and sought a response from the Centre over alleged violations by intermediaries in reporting such cases.
A bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice K.V. Chandran sought replies from the Electronics and Information Technology Ministry and the Law Ministry while hearing petitions seeking criminal action against platforms that fail to comply with mandatory POCSO reporting requirements.
The petitions, filed by Just Rights for Children Alliance (JRCA) and the Bachpan Bachao Andolan, also alleged the presence of paid ads on social media platforms, promoting Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Material (CSEAM).
Listing the matter for next hearing on September 24, the apex court sought to know the Centre’s stand on the petitioner’s suggestion to create a centralised online mechanism through which intermediaries can report CSEAM and share digital evidence with Indian law enforcement agencies.
The petitioner alleged that at present platforms report CSEAM cases to the US-based National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) but fail to report them directly to juvenile police units or local police as required under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.
The plea also sought a uniform SOP for intermediaries on detection, reporting, evidence preservation and sharing of IP details in matters of child abuse content.
The apex court allowed the petitioner to implead the intermediaries in the matter and press for implementation of its September 23, 2024, directions.
The development comes in the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s observations in 2024 that intermediaries cannot rely on IT Act safe-harbour protection if they fail to meet mandatory POCSO reporting obligations.
The Supreme Court had also said that intermediaries must follow due diligence requirements to claim ‘safe harbour’ protection, reminding that POCSO would prevail in case of any inconsistency with other laws.
The top court had observed that storage of child pornographic material, without deleting or without reporting the same, would indicate an intention to transmit and amount to an offence under the POCSO Act.