Meta to Report Child Sexual Abuse Cases to India's Cyber Crime Portal Amid Government Pressure

New Delhi: Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has agreed to report child safety matters, including cases of child sexual abuse, directly to Indian law enforcement agencies, according to people familiar with the development. The commitment comes amid a sustained push by the Centre to hold social media platforms accountable for the safety of children online.

Officials said the online safety of children is a basic condition for any social media company to operate in India and is not open to negotiation. They said the government is in continuous discussion with platforms to curb the circulation of harmful content, and that platforms which fail to take proactive steps will face action.

A Meta spokesperson said protecting children on its platforms is a priority. "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," the spokesperson said.

I4C, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, functions under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and operates the national cyber crime reporting portal.

Officials described the arrangement as a first step and said much more remains to be done. They said the Centre is in talks with other platforms to identify and remove such content.

The development follows scrutiny of Meta in two separate processes. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) took suo motu cognisance of a BBC Eye report alleging that advertisements promoting child sexual exploitation and abuse material (CSEAM) appeared on Meta-owned platforms. The commission issued a notice in July seeking an explanation, and Meta submitted its response a week later.

The NCPCR then decided to probe the facts and circumstances of the matter and summoned representatives of Meta India, including the managing director and head of Meta India, to appear before it on September 9. The officials were expected to provide information on the allegations as well as the company's formal response.

Separately, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) asked the Delhi Police to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the allegations that paid advertisements on Instagram promoted CSEAM in India. The NHRC directed the police to examine whether Meta and similar platforms were complying with the mandatory reporting obligations under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Under POCSO, which came into force in 2012, reporting sexual offences against children is mandatory for those who become aware of them. Rules framed under the Information Technology Act also require online intermediaries to act against child sexual abuse material on their platforms and to report it to the designated authorities.

The allegations are the subject of ongoing inquiries and no findings have been announced against Meta or any other platform. Meta has said it is committed to working with the government on the matter.

What happens next will depend on the outcome of the NCPCR and NHRC processes and on how quickly platforms change their reporting practices. For now, officials said the message to the industry is straightforward: the online safety of children is non-negotiable.