India's Supreme Court has ordered every online intermediary to ensure that child sexual exploitation and abuse material, or content likely to harm children, is not hosted or promoted behind paywalls or subscriptions, The Hindu reports. A bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran said social media companies had ignored directions it issued in 2024, and that recent news reports showed the situation had got worse.
In its order dated 15 October, the court said algorithms were spreading indirect links to such material in ways that sidestepped child-protection provisions in the POCSO Act and the IT Act. Citing a lack of action by regulators and platforms, the judges said they had been left with no choice but to step in. They asked the central government to consider a system of heavy fines on intermediaries, scaled to the seriousness of breaches and the size of the company.
Source: The Hindu
