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RS panel to consult social media firms on how to stop kids from accessing porn

Hindustan Times, New Delhi | By
Dec 04, 2019 05:53 AM IST

The group held its first meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday and laid the broad contours of MPs’ task. The panel is likely to give its report by the end of this month after talking to experts and agencies, said a member of the group.

An informal group of Rajya Sabha MPs, constituted to suggest measures to regulate the access of children to Internet Pornography, will consult social media companies like ByteDance (the company that owns TikTok), WhatsApp, Google, Facebook, Sharechat and Microsoft to find a way to resolve the issue.

An informal group of Rajya Sabha MPs, constituted to suggest measures to regulate the access of children to Internet Pornography, will consult social media companies. (Representative Image)(Getty Images)
An informal group of Rajya Sabha MPs, constituted to suggest measures to regulate the access of children to Internet Pornography, will consult social media companies. (Representative Image)(Getty Images)

The MPs will also talk to civil society groups, experts, parent groups and government agencies such as Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), regulators including Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights before finalizing its report, officials familiar with the matter said.

The group held its first meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday and laid the broad contours of MPs’ task. The panel is likely to give its report by the end of this month after talking to experts and agencies, said a member of the group.

In the first meeting, an MP said, the group decided that it has to look into all three aspects-- generation of pornographic content, dissemination of such content and the issue of access—to address the problem.

However, at least two members of the group admitted that prohibiting access of pornographic content to children would be a tough task given the penetration of internet.

Members of the group also met Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu to brief him on their first meeting.

“The Group noted that the internet offers significant developmental and educational benefits for children but the growing access to internet and social media also leads to increased exposure to unsafe content like pornography and potential risks of online harassment, abuse and exploitation. The Members voiced concern over the generation of online Child Sexual Abused Materials (CSAM) which is accessed by any one on the internet. UNICEF India categorises CSAM as child pornography, sextortion and revenge pornography,” said a senior Rajya Sabha official.

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