India warns YouTube and telegram

To remove child sexual abuse material from there platform for India...

On Friday the ministry of electronics and information technology, issued a notice to social media platforms, including Telegram, and YouTube, to remove child sexual abuse material (CSAM) from their platforms in India.

The notice also calls for the implementation of proactive measures to take down CSAM and emphasizes the importance of prompt and permanent removal of CSAM.

Minister of state for electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar has been a vocal advocate for removing such harmful content from the Indian internet, ensuring this approach becomes the ministry’s policy vision.

“There will be ZERO tolerance for criminal & harmful content on Indian Internet. ITRules under the ITAct clearly lays down the expectation from Intermediaries: They cannot host criminal & harmful content like CSAM,” Chandrasekhar wrote on Twitter.

It was not immediately clear what prompted the government to issue a warning to the three platforms.

The notices also state that non-compliance with these requirements will be deemed a breach of Rule 3(1) (b) and Rule 4(4) of the IT Rules, 2021, said the ministry.

The Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, provides the legal framework for addressing pornographic content, including CSAM.

Sections 66E, 67, 67A, and 67B of the IT Act impose stringent penalties and fines for the online transmission of obscene or pornographic content.

However, safe harbor protection does not automatically disappear. The loss of safe harbor is determined by courts and not the executive such as the IT Ministry. For the courts to assess whether safe harbor has been lost or not, someone first has to file a case