As per the notice sent to YouTube, the ministry said that it had issued an advisory on August 29, asking the company to address such content on its platform. According to the ministry, YouTube did not mention ensuring non-availability of such content in its response.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has told YouTube, Telegram and X (formerly Twitter) to remove all instances of child sexual abuse material from their platforms or lose their legal immunity on user generated content.
“We have sent notices to X, Youtube and Telegram to ensure there are no child sexual abuse material that exist on their platforms. The government is determined to build a safe and trusted internet under the IT rules,” Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said in a statement.
If the platforms do not act on the notice in the next few days, they could risk losing their safe harbour, the notices said.
As per the notice sent to YouTube, the ministry said that it had issued an advisory on August 29, asking the company to address such content on its platform. According to the ministry, YouTube did not mention ensuring non-availability of such content in its response.
“Through that advisory, you were further directed to forthwith ensure that as part of your obligation of due diligence, safety and trust, to immediately remove any and all such violative content, while in your response dated 22.09.2023, there is no mention of ensuring non-availability of such content in your platform,” the notice to YouTube said.
The ministry told Telegram that child abuse material should be “promptly and permanently” removed from its platform. The company should also implement proactive measures such as content moderation algorithms and reporting mechanisms, to prevent the future dissemination of such content, within three working days, the notice said.
Child sexual abuse material is one of the biggest problems on the internet, with lawmakers grappling with ways to deal with the issue. The debate has also posed complicated conversations over end-to-end encryption, with lawmakers claiming such platforms are used for the dissemination of such content.
