Minister of electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw directed officials to issue summons to social media platform Meta on the matter of Instagram ads allegedly promoting child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in India, government officials said on Wednesday.
Meta executives met government officials on Friday to explain the usernames feature and have been asked to respond to the notice within the timeline.
Zero tolerance to CSAM, says Meta
The Centre has defended its demand for a pause until consultations end. The ministries of electronics and information technology (MeitY) and home affairs are concerned that criminals can create usernames similar to those of public figures, banks or police officers to launch phishing attacks and run digital arrest scams.
Earlier in the day, electronics and IT secretary S Krishnan told reporters that the government was investigating the cyberattack at Tata Electronics and that the time may have come for India to have an independent law to regulate artificial intelligence.
Meanwhile, Vaishnaw’s edict for Meta summons follows a BBC investigation alleging that Instagram has been running paid advertisements promoting CSAM in India. The ads use phrases such as “rape video” and “child video,” and link users to channels on messaging app Telegram, where they can buy the material for as little as Rs 99 ($1), according to the report.
When asked about the allegations, a Meta spokesperson told ET, “Meta has a zero tolerance policy for soliciting or sharing CSAM, including in ads. We use advanced AI technology to proactively detect violating content and individuals, but we are in a constant battle with criminals who hide among our 3.5 billion users and try to evade our detection.”
The spokesperson said work was in progress to improve its defences, develop new technology, block links to violating websites, and share intelligence with other companies.
MeitY issued notices to Meta (WhatsApp) on Wednesday and to Telegram and Signal on Thursday, directing them to halt username rollouts until consultations are completed. Both Telegram and Signal already allow usernames.
“The kind of encouragement that it provides or the facility it provides for committing more cybercrimes, is a very serious issue... we have directed WhatsApp to explain why they have this feature and likewise we have similarly sought explanations from others," Krishnan said on the sidelines of the Confederation of Indian Industry cybersecurity summit.
On AI, the government has thus far relied on existing legal provisions to address emerging challenges. “Both of us (Vaishnaw and Krishnan) have been on record earlier that we will look at AI regulation when the time is right and it appears that the time is getting right and we will start looking at it,” the secretary said.
With regard to the data leak reports at Tata Electronics, one of Apple’s key vendors in the country, Krishnan said, “This is also a kind of cybercrime. We are investigating it... It has been reported to us."
Confidential data relating to Apple was leaked online by threat actors, according to reports. The government is examining possible cybersecurity implications.
On whether the government was considering a legal framework for Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to prevent users from accessing banned applications, Krishnan said the issue required both legal and technological interventions rather than relying solely on legislation. “That is a techno-legal aspect,” he said. “We have to look at both a technology solution in addition to just a legal solution.”
Krishnan said existing guidelines already require VPN service providers to register in India. However, some choose not to register and offer services from abroad, making enforcement more challenging.
“They offer it from elsewhere and it is offered at the software level and therefore we have to find technology-based solutions to address this,” he said.
