SC notice to Centre over lapses in limiting child sexual abuse content online
· India · Hindustan Times, The Hindu
The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Union government over alleged lapses by social media platforms in complying with statutory safeguards against child sexual exploitation and abuse material. A bench of justices JB Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran directed the ministry of electronics and information technology and the ministry of law and justice to respond to the petition. The court acted on concerns raised by the NGO Just Rights for Children Alliance, which alleged that platforms are failing to report offences to law-abiding authorities and upload offender details to the National Database of Sexual Offenders. The application also flagged instances of social media platforms carrying paid advertisements promoting child sexual abuse material and redirecting users to external paid websites. The court scheduled the matter for September 24 and ordered the ministries to file their counter affidavits two weeks in advance.
Why it matters
The case directly impacts how strictly social media intermediaries are held accountable for hosting child sexual abuse material, potentially removing safe-harbour protections under the IT Act for non-compliance with the Pocso act.
Read the original report — Hindustan Times
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