After Meta, Google to share child sexual abuse case details with govt

Search engine major Google will also start sharing details of child sexual abuse cases and repeat offenders with the cybercrime division of the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) of the Ministry of Home Affairs, sources told Business Standard.

 

Google follows in Meta India’s footsteps, which has also agreed to start reporting details of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) cases as well as other details of repeat offenders in such cases.

 

A spokesperson for Google confirmed the development and said that it had “proposed to operationalise the provision of relevant information to the I4C in cases related to CSAM.”

 

“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 CSAM,” the company spokesperson said. 

 

 

The company has written to both the I4C and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, explaining the reasons for the proactive step, a source said, adding that details of the CSAM cases would start flowing to the I4C as soon as the company has the technical framework ready.

 

“Protecting children on our platforms is a priority for us, and we’re 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 cybercrime portal managed by I4C,” a spokesperson for Meta had then said.

 

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, led by Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, raised this issue with Meta’s Chief of Global Affairs, Joel Kaplan, when the latter flew to New Delhi in August this year.

 

Until now, all US-headquartered social media platforms, including Google and Meta, shared instances of CSAM only with the National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), a private US non-profit organisation. NCMEC then shared details of repeat offenders or similar online accounts with law enforcement agencies in their respective domains.

 

The delay in obtaining information had often led to Indian law enforcement agencies getting a late start on critical CSAM cases, including those where children were being exploited to make exploitative and sexually suggestive content.

 

Google, Meta, and all US-headquartered social media companies must report all instances of CSAM to NCMEC under US federal law. Failing to do so exposes them to criminal liability, financial penalties, and loss of safe harbour protections.