The Indian government said it has issued a notice to social media platforms X (Twitter), YouTube and Telegram asking them to ensure there is no child sexual abuse content on their platforms, Reuters reported. A statement revealed that the companies could be stripped of legal liability protection if they fail to comply.
The statement that Rajeev Chandrasekhar, India’s Deputy Minister of Information Technology, said, “If they do not act swiftly, the safe harbours provided under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act will be withdrawn and the consequences under Indian law will follow. “
The Indian government says Chandrasekhar has been a strong advocate for removing such content from the Indian internet, and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is determined to “build a safe and trustworthy internet.
Telegram said its terms of service explicitly prohibit child abuse content, and that “Telegram’s moderators actively patrol the public portions of the platform and receive reports from users to remove content that violates our terms.”
A YouTube spokesperson said, “We have a zero tolerance policy for child sexual abuse content. We do not accept content that endangers minors in any way.” YouTube also said that it removed more than 94,000 channels and over 2.5 million videos in the third quarter of 2023 for violating its child safety policy.
