Following intense regulatory scrutiny in India, the US tech giant Meta has agreed to directly report child safety-related cases, including those involving child sexual abuse material, to Indian law enforcement agencies. According to media reports on Tuesday, this move involves lodging cases through the cybercrime portal managed by the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre.
Indian media cited government sources stating that Meta has committed to this new protocol as a “first step” toward ensuring platform safety for children, though officials emphasized that significantly more action is required. A Meta spokesperson confirmed to the Press Trust of India (PTI) that child safety matters will now be reported to the appropriate authorities via the cybercrime portal.
The agreement comes amid a fierce crackdown by the Indian government on social media companies regarding the presence of illegal advertisements. In July, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) ordered Instagram to disable all advertisements and content that promoted or facilitated access to child sexual abuse material. This directive followed an investigative report by the BBC, which revealed that paid advertisements promoting AI-generated child sexual abuse content were running on Instagram in India.
Tensions escalated further after a report by the US-based nonprofit Tech Transparency Project identified over 300 ads containing child sexual abuse material on Facebook and Instagram this year. The organization noted that 84 of these ads ran in India, with 78 of them appearing after the government had already issued its directive to Meta to halt such promotions.
Indian authorities have made it clear that the online safety of children is a “fundamental principle” and a “non-negotiable” requirement for any social media platform operating within the country. Government sources told news agencies that action would be taken against platforms that fail to proactively identify and remove harmful content.
In addition to the new reporting mechanism, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) recently summoned the managing director and head of Meta India to question the company’s efforts in addressing the alleged advertisements. The ministry also demanded a detailed explanation from Meta and held multiple rounds of discussions with top executives to ensure compliance.
Why did the bad ads keep running even after the government’s July directive? That negligence is alarming.
Is this really a ‘first step’ or just damage control after the BBC exposed those ads? Skeptical.
Finally, some accountability. It is about time tech giants face real consequences for this.