Government sets three-hour deadline to remove online child abuse content

Responding to a question in the Rajya Sabha, the Women and Child Development Ministry said several ministries now work together under a single framework built to stop and probe cases of child sexual abuse and exploitation online, The Economic Times reported. That structure brings together the Women and Child Development, Electronics and Information Technology, and Home Affairs ministries, drawing its legal basis from the POCSO Act and the Information Technology Act. Online intermediaries receive removal notices for unlawful material, including child sexual abuse content, through the Sahyog portal, and amended IT Rules cover synthetically generated content such as deepfakes. A three-hour clock applies once a court issues an order or an authorised government body sends a communication, after which intermediaries must take the content down. The Ministry additionally pointed to 6,650 workshops held to raise awareness, reaching upward of 11.37 lakh people, alongside separate systems for reporting and coordinating on cybercrime against children.