Rajeev Chandrasekhar Declares an End to Unpunished Child Exploitation After Meta’s US Lawsuit
More than 30 US States have taken legal action against Meta Platforms, accusing them of enticing children to use Instagram and Facebook and exposing them to harmful content. In response, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar emphasized the need for social media platforms to take responsibility for the content shared on their platforms and ensure the well-being of Indian citizens.
In an interview with NDTV, the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology said, “It is important that (social media) platforms are much more responsible and accountable in what they do, what content they host and who they allow on their platform to host such content”. He further added: ” I think the days of free access and immunity to (these) platforms are over.”
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Rajeev Chandrasekhar covers the Meta trial
Meta’s lawsuit has been filed in the Northern District of California, and the case is now assessing whether consumer protection laws were violated by unfairly endangering children and misleading users about the platform’s level of security.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji two years ago laid out the basic principles of how we need to look at the Internet, how we need to look at technology in general… It is certainly clear that now there are also downsides. on the internet. There are issues of addiction, harm to users and abuse… We have been of the view that safety, (responsibility) and trust in our digital nagris is a policy priority,” Chandrasekhar said India’s way of ensuring that social media platforms do not have the same effect on children.
Asked if there was a need to tighten the ropes on social media platforms, the IT minister said, “I think it’s absolutely imperative that as we move forward and more Indians come online… it’s important that the platforms and the government work in a non-confrontational way in partnership to ensure , that the platforms must not contain material or false information about the sexual abuse of children.”
A spokesperson for Meta has expressed disappointment that US policymakers have chosen this path, stressing that Meta has “already implemented more than 30 tools to support teens and their families” and shares a similar commitment to the Attorney General’s “to provide teens with safe, positive experiences online.”
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