Meta agrees to report child safety cases to law enforcement amid Centre scrutiny

Meta has agreed to report cases related to child sexual abuse to appropriate law enforcement agencies, Meta told Fortune India, as the Centre stepped up pressure on social media platforms to take greater responsibility for children’s safety online.

"Protecting children on our platforms is a priority for us and we’re committed to working with the government to ensure that the perpetrators of these 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 told Fortune India, after it had reached out to the social media giant. I4C, which stands for the the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre—is a national nodal centre under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)—and is designed to provide a comprehensive framework and ecosystem for law enforcement agencies to deal with cybercrime.

The development comes amid heightened government scrutiny of social media platforms over harmful and illegal online content, including child sexual abuse material and deepfakes.

According to a report by news agency PTI, government sources said online safety of children is a “fundamental principle” for any social media platform operating in India and is “absolutely non-negotiable”. Platforms that fail to take proactive steps to protect children online will face government action, the sources said.

According to the sources, Meta’s agreement to report child sexual abuse cases to law enforcement agencies marks a first step towards making online platforms safer for children, though “much more needs to be done”. The government is also engaging with other online platforms to ensure they proactively identify and remove harmful content, the sources said.

Centre steps up pressure on social media platforms

The latest development follows months of increasing scrutiny of Meta by the Centre. In July, the government issued a notice to the company over alleged child sexual abuse material appearing in paid advertisements on Instagram and directed it to take down such content and explain how it was allowed to appear on the platform.

The scrutiny subsequently widened to include Meta’s handling of deepfakes, AI-generated content, recommendation systems and algorithmic safeguards. During a series of meetings with the company’s global team in August, government officials also questioned whether Meta’s systems for deciding what content is shown to users and promoted through paid content were consistent with its obligations under Indian law.

The Centre has made it clear that platforms cannot rely on intermediary protections while failing to comply with Indian laws and due diligence requirements, with government sources stressing that there is no safe harbour for CSAM violations. The government is now seeking similar proactive measures from other platforms, with a particular focus on content and activity that could put children at risk.

With inputs from PTI