Centre's Big Warning To Meta: Consequences For Sharing Child Sexual Abuse Material Clearly Conveyed As Talks Continue

In the ongoing talks with Meta, the Central government has strongly objected to the sharing of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on Instagram.

According to a report by news agency PTI, the government held a tough discussion with Meta on the issue and made it clear that dissemination of CSAM content is a clear violation of the rules, and there will be no 'safe harbour (legal protection)' in such cases.

Meta's legal protections threatened

According to the report, the government explained to Meta that its intention was only to ensure that Indian laws and regulations were followed and that it did not intend to censor or restrict coverage in any way.

Citing sources in the IT Ministry, the report further said that it is the responsibility of the platforms to remove the harm caused by the content and maintain the right balance.

During discussions with the government, Meta presented its position and explained how its algorithms and systems work. The report cited the government officials as saying that discussions are ongoing on this front and that decisions and changes are needed in such cases.

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Discussion over WhatsApp username row

The report also states that the discussion is not only limited to Instagram but also includes the WhatsApp username issue.

Regarding AI labelling, a ministry official reportedly said the law is clear that synthetically generated content must be labelled.

What is Safe Harbour protection?

The 'safe harbour' protection is provided under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act. It protects intermediaries from being held legally responsible for third-party content hosted on their platforms.

Supreme Court also sent a notice to the Centre

The issue of alleged lapses by social media intermediaries in following safeguards against sexual exploitation of children also came up during the Supreme Court hearing.

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A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran issued notice to the government and sought its response on a plea raising concerns about protecting children from online sexual abuse.

The court said that the issues brought before it are a matter of serious concern and need to be considered thoroughly and seriously.