India's National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has asked Delhi Police to file a case against the US-based micro-blogging site Twitter for providing false and misleading information during an investigation in a case related to the probe into the Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) available on online platforms.
According to NCPCR chief Priyank Kanoongo, the commission had come across several links on Twitter related to child pornography following which they approached Twitter India for information.
"When we approached Twitter India telling them that in cases of child pornography and other matters concerning child welfare on social media, they will have to report to the police, they (Twitter India) said that it falls under the ambit of Twitter Inc, based in the US," Kanoongo said while speaking to media.
According to the complaint Kanoongo filed with Delhi Police, Twitter allegedly gave false information to the commission during their investigation. The complaint didn't specify how the microblogging platform misled the Indian authorities.
"Misleading or providing false information is against sections of of the Indian Penal Code in India," he added.
— Mohit Sharma (@iMohit_Sharma) May 31, 2021
Meanwhile the commission has also written to the IT Ministry to restrain the access of children to Twitter for seven days, until the social media platform is deemed to be safe for children and starts following India's IT rules.
In April, NCPCR sent a notice to Twitter citing a recent report by the India Child Protection Fund that showed a steep spike in those searching for CSAM online during the lockdown.
"It is seen that as per your standard terms and conditions, a person of 13 years and above is eligible to open an account on Twitter. If you are allowing children at the age of 13 to open an account, the commission is of the view that you can't allow the other users to publish, propagate pornographic material, links etc. on Twitter," the notice stated.
It further stated that "another concern of the commission is that the accessibility of the pornographic material to the children through these links on Twitter".
