SC seeks Centre’s reply on plea for criminal action against platforms showing child sex abuse ads

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The Supreme Court on Friday sought the Centre's response to a plea seeking prosecution of social media platforms that fail to report child sexual exploitation and abuse material (CSEAM) to police, as mandated by the POCSO Act. A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and Vinod Chandran issued notice to the Union government through MeitY and the law ministry. The court also asked the petitioner, Just Rights for Children Alliance (JRCA), to implead intermediaries to ensure compliance with its 2024 judgment.

The plea, filed by JRCA, follows a BBC report alleging that paid advertisements promoting CSEAM appeared on Instagram and redirected users to Telegram. It argues that Meta reports such instances to the US-based NCMEC but does not indicate whether it also reports to Indian police as required. The plea seeks a uniform SOP for intermediaries covering detection, mandatory reporting, preservation of evidence and coordination, and criminal action against non-compliant platforms.