NCPCR Meets with Google and Social Media Platforms to Discuss Child Safety Measures
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) recently convened a meeting with Google and major social media platforms, including Meta, X, Snapchat, and others, to address child protection and safety concerns.
In its statement, the NCPCR outlined that the discussions covered various issues, such as age verification mechanisms and the safety tools employed by these platforms. The meeting also focused on strategies for detecting and reporting Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) and methods for restricting and blocking such content.
Additionally, the NCPCR discussed the support that social media platforms could provide to law enforcement agencies, tools for identifying deep fakes, and measures to protect victims while ensuring their privacy.
Key points of agreement included the necessity for social media platforms to implement robust Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures and adhere to Section 9 of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, emphasizing the importance of maintaining its integrity.
The discussions highlighted the mandatory reporting of CSAM as outlined in Section 19 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, which requires online platforms to report any instances of CSAM directly to local law enforcement.
Furthermore, it was stressed that social media platforms must obtain explicit consent from parents or legal guardians before engaging with minors and should provide disclaimers in English, Hindi, and local languages when displaying adult content. These disclaimers should inform parents of potential liability if children access such material.
The NCPCR also requested data from the platforms regarding the number of cases submitted to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children from January to June 2024, including details about image or video hashes, content types, time-stamped logs, and other relevant information. Platforms are expected to implement these recommendations and submit an Action Taken Report to the Commission within seven days of receiving the request.
