Meta agrees to report child sexual abuse cases to agencies, MeitY receives letter

The government has confirmed that Meta has agreed to report child safety-related matters, including child sexual abuse cases, to law enforcement agencies in India. This agreement was outlined in a letter sent from Meta to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). The government emphasized that child safety is a non-negotiable principle for any social media platform operating in the country.

Meta has been working with the government to curb harmful information and enhance the safety of children online. However, the government stated that further actions are necessary to ensure the protection of children on social media platforms. The government also warned that platforms failing to take proactive measures to protect children online will face consequences.

This development comes as Meta faces scrutiny over child sexual exploitation and abuse material found in Instagram advertisements. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has been investigating the issue, which led Meta to remove a significant number of such ads. Meta has implemented various tools, such as AI-powered systems and hash matching, to detect and remove child exploitation content.

In the past six months, the company removed about four million accounts and 36 million pieces of content linked to child exploitation, including 1.6 lakh accounts in India.