New Delhi37 minutes ago
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The government sent a notice to parent company Meta regarding advertisements promoting content related to sexual exploitation of children on Instagram. According to news agency PTI, the company will have to respond to this notice within 7 days. This notice has been issued on 4th July.
According to media reports, the IT Ministry has directed Instagram to immediately block and remove all advertisements on its platform that promote child sexual exploitation or provide access to such content.
In fact, BBC had told in its investigative report that Instagram is showing advertisements related to sexual exploitation of children in India. Earlier on July 1, the government had issued a notice to Meta on the username feature of WhatsApp.
BBC report- Content related to sexual exploitation is available cheap on Meta.
- BBC report claims that child sexual abuse material is present on Instagram. Such paid advertisements were running on Instagram in India, in which words like ‘rape video’ and ‘child video’ were used.
- After clicking on these advertisements, users were sent to Telegram channels, where content related to alleged sexual exploitation of children was being sold at a very low price of Rs 99.
- According to the report, all the advertisements appearing on Instagram go live only after getting approval from Meta’s moderation system.
- When the BBC complained about a similar advertisement to Instagram, after about 24 hours the company responded that the post did not violate its community guidelines. After this BBC asked Meta for an answer on this matter. The company then said it had removed several ads, suspended the related accounts and claimed to have removed those URLs.
- Meta also acknowledged that no moderation system is perfect and the review process cannot identify every rule violation.
Bhaskar Knowledge: Making and possessing material related to sexual exploitation of children is a crime in India.
Question: What is the law in India on material related to sexual exploitation of children?
answer: It is a crime to create, possess, view, share, sell or disseminate material related to the sexual exploitation of children.
Question: What is the punishment in Section 67B of IT Act?
answer: If found guilty for the first time, imprisonment up to 5 years and fine up to Rs 10 lakh. Jail up to 7 years and fine for repeat offence.
Question: What is the responsibility of social media companies?
answer: Under the IT Act of India, 2021, social media platforms have to take prompt action to remove illegal content. Have to cooperate with investigating agencies. Appropriate technical measures have to be taken to identify and prevent content related to sexual exploitation of children.
Question: What to do if you see such content?
answer: Do not download, share or forward it. Report immediately to the relevant platform. File a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Portal. If necessary, inform the local police or cyber cell.
Question: What can the government do in this matter?
answer: Can seek answers from social media company. Can give instructions to remove content from the platform. Can initiate criminal investigation through investigating agencies. Can take action under IT laws on violation of rules.
Question: Is only the platform responsible?
answer: No. Persons uploading, buying, selling, sharing or knowingly transmitting such content are also subject to criminal action under Indian law.
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