MeitY warns social media platforms against pornographic content, flags loss of safe harbor protection

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has issued an advisory to all social media companies, directing them to take strict action against the spread of obscene, vulgar and pornographic content on their platforms.

In the advisory, MeitY stressed the need for greater consistency and rigor in identifying and removing unlawful content, and asked platforms to immediately review their compliance frameworks and content moderation practices. The ministry reminded social media intermediaries that they are statutorily bound to follow due diligence under the Information Technology Act and Information Technology Rules.

MeitY cautioned that failure to comply with due diligence requirements would result in the loss of safe harbor protections available to intermediaries. Further, such non-compliance may attract punitive action under the Indian Penal Code (BNS), the new criminal law that replaced the Indian Penal Code.

The advisory also underlined that large social media platforms need to deploy technology-based measures to proactively prevent the hosting and spread of unlawful content, rather than relying solely on user complaints or post-facto takedowns.

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Furthermore, MeitY asked the platforms to pay attention to the penal provisions under various laws including the IT Act, the Indian Justice Code, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act, the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act and the Young Persons Act.

The ministry said that strict adherence to these legal provisions is necessary to ensure a safer and more responsible digital ecosystem.