E-Paper
Act on obscene, vulgar content or face action: Govt's warning to social media firms, online platforms
The Meity advisory reiterated the need for social media platforms to review their compliance framework in regards to the IT Act
The Centre has issued a warning to all social media platforms over obscene, vulgar, pornographic, paedophilic and other forms of unlawful content, while flagging laxity on actions against these.
The Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity), in an advisory dated December 29, 2025, warned online platforms, mainly social media firms, of legal consequences if they are not acted upon. The advisory reiterated the need for the internet platforms to review their compliance framework in regards to the IT Act, failing which they would face consequences as per the law, PTI news agency reported.
“Intermediaries, including social media intermediaries, are reminded that they are statutorily obligated under Section 79 of the IT Act... to observe, due diligence as a condition for availing exemption from liability in respect of third-party information uploaded, published, hosted, shared or transmitted on or through their platforms,” the ministry stated.
It further flagged non-compliance with the provisions of the IT Act and/or the IT Rules, 2021, adding that this would lead to consequences, including prosecution under the IT Act, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and other relevant criminal laws “against the intermediaries, platforms and their users.”
The Meity advisory came after the ministry observed that social media platforms were not strictly acting against obscene, vulgar, inappropriate, and unlawful content, according to the PTI report.
The ministry said that it had come to its notice that there was a need for greater consistency in due diligence obligations of the intermediaries, particularly in relation to the identifying, reporting and removal of content that would be considered obscene and/or is unlawful.
Meity reminded the firms of the provisions of IT Act and IT Rules 2021. These require social media platforms to make efforts to ensure that the users of their computer resources do not host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, store, update or share any information and content that are obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, harmful to children, or unlawful, PTI reported.
