SC flags social media lapses over child abuse content, seeks Centre's reply

The Supreme Court sought the Centre's response to allegations that social media platforms are not reporting child abuse material cases to authorities under the POCSO Act. The plea also seeks a uniform reporting mechanism and warns that non-compliance could affect safe-harbour protection.The SC asked the govt to reply after it flagged social media lapses over child abuse content.The Supreme Court on Monday flagged concerns over lapses by social media platforms in complying with mandatory reporting requirements under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and sought the Centre's response on the issue.The court asked the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Ministry of Law and Justice to file their counter-affidavits two weeks before the next hearing, scheduled for September 24.The top court's order comes weeks after the government flagged lapses in the handling of child sexual abuse material, as well as the brief removal of a video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Facebook during a high-level meeting with Meta executives.The application before the court has raised allegations that social media intermediaries are not directly reporting instances of child sexual exploitation and abuse material (CSEAM) to the Special Juvenile Police Unit (SJPU) or local police, as required under POCSO. It has alleged that platforms instead report such cases to the US-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).The plea has also raised concerns over alleged paid advertisements promoting CSEAM and sought criminal action against platforms that fail to comply with statutory reporting obligations. The petitioners have sought a uniform standard operating procedure for intermediaries covering the detection and reporting of CSEAM, preservation of electronic evidence and sharing of IP addresses and other digital information with investigating agencies.The plea has further sought a centralised online mechanism through which intermediaries can report CSEAM and share digital evidence with Indian law enforcement agencies.It also seeks the prompt inclusion of persons involved in such offences in the National Database of Sexual Offenders, in accordance with the law.- EndsPublished By: Karishma Saurabh KalitaPublished On: Aug 17, 2026 12:56 IST