Meta To Report Child Safety Cases to India’s I4C Cybercrime Portal
Meta will directly report child safety-related cases to India’s cybercrime reporting system managed by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), the company said on Tuesday. The move comes amid heightened scrutiny of the social media giant over allegations involving the circulation and promotion of child s*xual abuse material on its platforms, particularly Instagram.
New Delhi, September 15: Meta will directly report child safety matters to India's Cybercrime portal managed by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), the US-based technology giant said on Tuesday. The decision comes amid heightened scrutiny of Meta in India over the alleged circulation and promotion of child s*xual abuse material (CSAM) through advertisements on Instagram.
The government has said the online safety of children is a fundamental principle for every social media platform operating in India and remains non-negotiable, according to government sources. The commitment by Meta is being seen as a first step towards strengthening safeguards for children on social media platforms, they added. Meta Agrees To Pay Up to USD 18 Billion in Landmark Settlement Over Child Safety on Facebook, Instagram.
Meta -- in a statement on the ongoing issue -- said protecting children on its platforms is a priority and that it is committed to working with the government to ensure perpetrators of such crimes are held responsible.
"To collectively strengthen our efforts to combat this harm, Meta will now report child safety matters directly to the Cyber crime portal managed by I4C," a Meta spokesperson said. Meta India MD and Head Arun Srinivas Appear Before NCPCR Over Child S*xual Abuse Material Ads Content Allegations; Check Details.
Social media platforms can be used to circulate or facilitate access to CSAM and other forms of child exploitation. Reporting such cases to law enforcement agencies would help ensure that such incidents are not dealt with solely through platforms' internal content-moderation systems.
The government has stressed that more needs to be done and that discussions are continuing with other social media platforms to proactively identify and remove harmful content.
It has also warned that action could be taken against platforms that fail to adopt adequate proactive measures to protect children online. The development comes amid growing global scrutiny of social media platforms over risks to children, including exposure to s*xual exploitation, harmful content and online abuse.
In India, social media platforms are governed by the Information Technology Act and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which prescribe due-diligence obligations for intermediaries.
Meta had faced scrutiny after an investigation by the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) found that Facebook and Instagram carried paid advertisements featuring child s*xual abuse material this year, including AI-manipulated images of real children. The investigation also found more than 300 advertisements featuring AI-generated child s*xual abuse material on Meta's platforms.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 15, 2026 12:05 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
