New Delhi, October 6: The government has issued notices to social media platforms X, formerly Twitter, YouTube and Telegram to remove child sexual abuse material from their platforms in India, an official statement said on Friday.

Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajiv Chandrasekhar said if social media intermediaries do not act swiftly, their 'safe harbour' under section 79 of the IT Act would be withdrawn, implying that the platforms can be directly prosecuted under the applicable laws and rules even though the content may have not been uploaded by them. Child Pornography: Delhi Uploaded Maximum Child Sexual Abuse Material on Social Media Platforms in Last Five Months; Over 25,000 Cases Reported in India.

"Ministry of Electronics and IT has issued notices to social media intermediaries X, Youtube and Teleram, warning them to remove Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) from their platforms on the Indian internet. "The notices served to these platforms emphasize the importance of prompt and permanent removal or disabling of access to any CSAM on their platforms," the statement said.

The notices also call for the implementation of proactive measures, such as content moderation algorithms and reporting mechanisms, to prevent the dissemination of CSAM in the future.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)