Child sex abuse material on Meta: NHRC notices to IT, I&B ministries

NEW DELHI: National Human Rights Commission has issued notices to the ministries of electronics and information technology (MeitY) and information and broadcasting (I&B) as part of the ongoing scrutiny of circulation of child sexual abuse material on Instagram.NHRC member Priyank Kanoongo, whose bench issued the notices on Sept 2, highlighted that the inquiry was no longer confined to who uploaded objectionable content on a platform. "It also examines the extent to which the platform's own editorial and publishing systems participate in the generation, selection, circulation, amplification or monetisation of content," he said.The bench has asked whether a digital platform's legal position can continue to be treated merely as that of a passive intermediary when its systems actively generate, modify, curate, recommend, publish, amplify or monetise content.The commission has specifically asked the I&B ministry whether Meta falls within its regulatory purview as a publisher or publisher of online curated content under…