Tech giant Google on Monday said it has proposed operationalising the sharing of information on cases involving child sex abuse material (CSAM) with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs, signalling a shift away from sole reliance on international reporting channels.
“Google is deeply committed to fighting CSAM online and preventing its platforms from being used to create, store or distribute such material. We invest significantly to detect, deter, remove, and report child sexual abuse material. As part of our ongoing discussions with the Government of India, we have respectfully proposed to operationalize the provision of relevant information to the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) in cases related to child sexual abuse material,” a Google spokesperson said on Monday in response to a query.
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Google considers direct reporting of CSAM cases to I4C
The Business Standard first reported the development.
{{/usCountry}}The Business Standard first reported the development.
{{/usCountry}}This move comes days after Meta announced it would begin reporting child-safety matters directly to the Cyber Crime portal maintained by the I4C. Google’s plan, however, is still in the discussion stage.
It could not be immediately established which ministry or department Google made this proposal to.
Google currently reports CSAM through a process that involves the US-based National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), similar to Meta.
According to Google, when it detects CSAM on its platforms, it removes the material and makes a CyberTipline report to NCMEC or other relevant authorities. Such reports may include the offending content, contextual information and, where relevant, information identifying the user or the child victim.
NCMEC then forwards reports to law enforcement authorities around the world, as appropriate.
In a statement to HT on September 15, a Meta spokesperson said: “Protecting children on our platforms is a priority for us and we are 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.”
Centre pushes platforms to report cases to Indian agencies
Increased government scrutiny on CSAM, specifically on Meta’s platforms like Instagram and Facebook, came after a BBC Eye investigation found advertisements on Instagram containing phrases such as “rape video” and “child video”, which directed users to Telegram channels allegedly selling CSAM.
After the matter came to light, officials at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) summoned Meta officials.
The government’s position has been that platforms should report such cases directly to Indian law enforcement agencies. A senior MeitY official told HT earlier that Meta had been reporting such cases to NCMEC, but the government wanted the company to also report them to Indian authorities.
The government has also said that online safety of children is a fundamental principle for social media platforms operating in India and is “non-negotiable”.