Supreme Court Pulls Up Centre For Not Informing Steps Taken To Remove Online Child Sexual Exploitation & Abuse Materials

On September 24, the Supreme Court gave one last opportunity to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Ministry of Law and Justice to file a response indicating the steps taken to curb the menace of Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Material(CSEAM) by social media intermediaries.

Emphasising the need for prevention, it has asked the ministries to indicate what preventive steps will be taken in future to prevent lapses by such intermediaries. 

It may be recalled that on August 14, a bench comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice K Vinod Chandran issued notice in an application filed by Just Rights for Children Alliance(JRCA) and the Bachpan Bachao Andolan in the wake of a media report alleging that social media intermediary Instagram has carried out paid advertisements promoting CSEAM. The application raised serious concerns over compliance with the Supreme Court's earlier directions and the statutory obligations of the intermediaries.

In September 2024, the Supreme Court held that storage of child pornographic material, without deleting or without reporting the same, would indicate an intention to transmit and therefore is an offence under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Subsequently, on August 15, the bench issued notice and also allowed the petitioners to move an application for impleadment of the concerned intermediaries, and also to further ensure implementation of the September 23, 2024 directions in the main petition.

 When the matter came up on September 24, Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj sought some time to file a reply on behalf of the MeitY and MoLJ. He stated that the government is working on it and will soon file an affidavit.

On this, the bench asked why no reply has been filed in such an extremely serious matter, especially when the last order was passed one month ago. It said: "By our order dated 14th August, 2026, we had directed the Union of India through the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology as well as the Ministry of Law and Justice to file their counter/ report as regards the subject matter of the Miscellaneous Application. Unfortunately, till this date, no such counter or report has come on record."

It further asked the ministries to explain what meaningful steps have been taken to fulfil the Court's earlier directions: "The matter before us is extremely serious. We give one last opportunity to both the Ministries to file their counter/ report. The counter/ report should explain clearly what steps the two Ministries have taken to give meaningful effect to the directions issued by this Court in the main judgment dated 23.09.2024 passed in Crl. Appeal Nos.2161-2162 of 2024 and what steps have been taken so far to curb this menace, as highlighted in the Miscellaneous Application."

The Court has asked the respective ministries to indicate in their affidavit what precautions the government would be taking in future to prevent the lapses on the part of social media intermediaries.  It will hear the matter on October 15.

Background

In the 2024 judgment authored by Justice Pardiwala, the Court particularly noted that the role of social media intermediaries in checking the proliferation of child pornography is significant. It was observed that for the intermediary to claim safe harbour protection, that is, in order not to be held liable for any third-party data, it must not be involved in either initiating the transmission or the receipt of the modification of the data in any manner.

In this backdrop, the JRCA has sought a comprehensive mechanism to ensure effective implementation of these obligations and prevent the online circulation and exploitation of children. The application foremost seeks the formulation and notification of a uniform Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for intermediaries covering detection and mandatory reporting of CSEAM, preservation of evidence and inter-agency coordination among relevant agencies.

It also seeks measures to ensure the prompt uploading of offenders' particulars to the National Database of Sexual Offenders (NDSO), timely action by law-enforcement agencies on every report received from an intermediary, and initiation of criminal proceedings against intermediaries that fail to comply with mandatory reporting obligations, in accordance with law.