The company’s India head, Arun Srinivas, has been summoned by the child rights body on Thursday.
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The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has decided to institute a formal inquiry into alleged lapses in Meta India’s policies on child safety and the platform’s lack of action on child sexual abuse material (CSAM), according to sources.
The decision to institute a formal inquiry was taken after NCPCR found Meta’s response on the issue inadequate.
The company’s India head, Arun Srinivas, has also been summoned by the child rights body on Thursday.
Key Points
- NCPCR has launched a formal inquiry into Meta India over alleged child safety lapses.
- Meta India head Arun Srinivas has been summoned by the commission.
- Instagram earlier faced scrutiny over ads allegedly promoting CSAM.
- Meta says it removed millions of suspicious accounts and child exploitation content.
- The company has tightened safety settings for users under 18.
NCPCR Launches Formal Inquiry
In July, Meta’s video- and image-sharing platform Instagram came under the government’s scrutiny after reports emerged that the platform was allowing advertisements promoting CSAM.
Following the reports, the ministry of electronics and information technology summoned Meta India executives and sought their response on the issue.
Meta India Head Summoned
In response, Meta said it had removed 160,000 accounts for hosting and sharing ‘suspicious off-platform links in coordination with other signals indicating child exploitative activity’.
Overall, Meta, which has WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads under its umbrella, said it had automatically removed more than 4 million suspicious accounts from Facebook and Instagram, in addition to 36 million pieces of content containing child exploitation.
Instagram CSAM Ads Scrutiny
Earlier this year, Instagram updated its policies around content shown to children and said all users below the age of 18 would be able to view only content similar to what they would likely see in an age-appropriate movie.
All users under 18 will be placed in this category going forward, and they will not be able to change the settings without a parent’s permission, Meta had said in a blog post announcing the changes.
Meta Removes Suspicious Accounts
‘Just like you might see some suggestive content or hear some strong language in a movie rated for ages 13+, teens may occasionally see something like that on Instagram, but we’re going to keep doing all we can to keep those instances as rare as possible,’ Meta had said.
‘We recognise no system is perfect, and we’re committed to improving over time.’
Teen Safety Policy Changes
Teenagers will not be able to follow accounts that regularly share content inappropriate for those under 18.
Even if the name or bio of such accounts suggests that the content within them is inappropriate for teenagers, Meta will restrict children from viewing them, the platform had then said.
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff
