SC gives Centre final opportunity to report steps taken against child sex abuse on social media

Parmod Kumar

New Delhi, Sep 24 (UNI) The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed concern over the Centre's failure to place on record the steps taken to implement its directions aimed at curbing the circulation of Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Material (CSEAM) online, and granted the government a final opportunity to file its response.

A bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice K. Vinod Chandran directed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Ministry of Law and Justice to submit reports detailing the measures taken pursuant to the court's September 2024 judgment. The court noted that despite an earlier direction issued on August 14, the ministries had not filed their responses. Describing the matter as extremely serious, the bench said one last opportunity was being granted to place the required material on record.

The court was hearing an application filed by the NGO - Just Rights for Children Alliance (JRCA), which has sought stricter enforcement of directions requiring social media intermediaries to report CSEAM to law-enforcement agencies. The bench also sought details of safeguards proposed to prevent failures by online platforms in detecting and reporting such material. Additional Solicitor General K.M. Nataraj, appearing for the Centre, told the court that the government was treating the issue seriously and had initiated proceedings against one company. The matter will be heard next on October 15.

The application followed a report alleging that Instagram had hosted paid advertisements promoting CSEAM. JRCA has maintained that the issue is not confined to any one intermediary, but concerns uniform compliance by all online platforms operating in India. In its September 23, 2024 judgment, the Supreme Court had held that intermediaries are required to report CSEAM-related offences under the POCSO Act and the rules framed under it.

The court had also examined these obligations in the context of safe-harbour protection under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act. JRCA has sought a uniform standard operating procedure for detection, reporting and preservation of such material, better inter-agency coordination, time-bound action on reports, criminal action against non-compliant platforms and a centralised mechanism for reporting CSEAM.

UNI XC RN