The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on Friday issued notices to X, YouTube, Telegram and other social media platforms. In this notice issued by the IT Ministry, social media platforms have been warned to remove content related to child sexual abuse in India. The ministry said that if content related to child sexual abuse is not removed from the platform, their legal protection will be removed and legal action can also be taken.

Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrashekhar said that we have sent notices to X, YouTube and Telegram to ensure that no child sexual exploitation material is present on their platforms. The government is committed to creating a secure and reliable internet under IT rules.

He warned that the IT rules under the IT Act place strict expectations on social media intermediaries that they should not allow criminal or harmful posts on their platforms. If they do not act swiftly, their legal protection under Section 79 of the IT Act will be withdrawn and they will face consequences under Indian law.

Notably, sections 66E, 67, 67A and 67B of the IT Act impose stringent penalties and fines for online transmission of obscene or indecent material, including CSAM.