YouTube Responds to Government Notice, Denies Presence of Child Sexual Abuse Content

Despite conducting multiple investigations, YouTube stated on Monday that it did not identify any content associated with child sexual abuse on its platform. Additionally, regulators have not provided any evidence of such materials being present on the video streaming platform.

The YouTube spokesperson’s statement came after the government issued notices to social media platforms including YouTube, X (formerly Twitter) and Telegram earlier this month asking them to remove child sexual abuse material from their platforms in India.

A YouTube spokesperson said in a statement: “We have a long history of successfully combating child abuse on YouTube. After several thorough investigations, we did not detect CSAM on our platform, and we received no examples or evidence of CSAM on YouTube from regulators. .”

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The Google-owned video platform further stated that “YouTube does not allow content of any kind that endangers minors, and we will continue to invest heavily in teams and technologies that detect, remove, and prevent the spread of this content.”

“We are committed to working with all partners in the industry-wide fight to prevent the spread of child sexual abuse material (CSAM),” a YouTube spokesperson added in an email.

YouTube has provided its official response to the matter.

In the second quarter of 2023, YouTube removed more than 94,000 channels and more than 2.5 million videos for violating its child safety policy.

According to YouTube, in India it displays a warning at the top of search results for certain CSAM searches. This warning states that child sexual abuse images are illegal and links to a national online crime reporting portal.

On October 6, the government announced that social media platforms X (formerly Twitter), YouTube and Telegram have been issued notices to remove child sexual abuse material from their platforms in India.

Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar had warned that if social media intermediaries do not act quickly, their safe harbor status under Section 79 of the IT Act will be removed, meaning the platforms can be directly prosecuted under applicable laws and regulations, even if they haven’t uploaded any content.

“The Ministry of Electronics and IT has issued notices to social media brokers X, YouTube and Telegram, warning them to remove Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) from their platforms on the Indian Internet.

“Notices sent to these platforms emphasize prompt and permanent removal or denial of access to CSAM of all those platforms,” the government’s October 6 statement said.

The release also called for proactive measures, such as content moderation algorithms and reporting mechanisms, to prevent CSAM from spreading in the future.

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