NHRC Exposes Gaps in Reporting Child Sexual Abuse Material

Gist The National Human Rights Commission NHRC has issued notices to two Union ministries and the Delhi Police after paid Instagram advertisements actively directed users to Child Sexual Abuse Material CSAM on Telegram. This development challenges the 'safe harbour' immunity of tech giants, questioning whether their use of AI for content curation makes them active publishers under the IT Rules, 2021 rather than passive intermediaries. For civil services aspirants, this highlights the critical enforcement gap between the mandatory reporting obligations of the POCSO Act, 2012 and the practical hurdles of digital investigations where millions of cyber alerts yield few convictions. Background Mandatory Reporting : Section 19 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences POCSO Act, 2012 creates a strict legal mandate: anyone who knows or apprehends that an offence against a child is likely to be committed must report it to the Special Juvenile Police or local police. Intermediary Safe Harbour : Under Indian digital law, tech platforms are traditionally shielded from legal liability for user-generated content, provided they act merely as passive hosts rather than curators or creators.…