- By Vikas Yadav
- Sat, 07 Oct 2023 04:42 PM (IST)
- Source:IANS
Video streaming platform YouTube and encrypted messaging app Telegram have responded to the notice of the Indian Government's IT Ministry to take down child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The social media firms said they follow a "zero-tolerance policy" against CSAM and associated content.
A spokesperson from the Google-owned platform told IANS that any form of content that is a threat to minors is unacceptable. The representative added that in the second quarter of this year, YouTube removed more than 94,000 channels and 2.5 million+ videos that violated the platform's child safety guidelines.
"We have heavily invested in the technology and teams to fight child sexual abuse and exploitation online and take swift to remove it as quickly as possible," citing the spokesperson, IANS reported. "We will continue to work with experts inside and outside of YouTube to provide minors and families the best protections possible," the spokesperson stated.
The social media firms said they follow a "zero-tolerance policy" against CSAM and associated content. (Image:Unsplash)
Further, the company also provides its proprietary technology, known as "CSAI Match," to its partners to battle Child Sexual Abuse Imagery. The popular video platform already restricts comments, live features, and recommendations of videos tagged as "made for kids" or involving minors in controversial situations.
Secondly, Telegram said that they are "always committed" to upholding the ethical and legal standards of the platform, especially when it comes to "Child Pornography (CP), Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), and Rape and Gang Rape (RGR)" content in India. It upholds a "zero-tolerance policy towards any unlawful activities conducted by users on our platform".
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"We take immediate and stringent action as prescribed by the law of the land in response to any such violations," the Telegram spokesperson said. Once CP/CSAM/RGR content gets reported, the average response time to remove such offensive content is 10-12 hours, which is below the permissible 24-hour limit.
It added that it is committed to complying with the requests issued by Indian authorities for blocking objectionable content under Section 79 of the Information Technology (IT) Act. For context, the notice to block CSAM content was sent to YouTube, Telegram and X (formerly called Twitter). The Elon Musk-led platform has not shared any official statement on the matter.