New Delhi, July 3 (IANS). The central government has taken a tough stance after advertisements allegedly promoting child sexual exploitation surfaced on Instagram. According to reports, Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnav has directed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to summon Metra officials.
According to sources, the ministry will seek clarification from American tech company Meta as to how such advertisements appeared on its social media platforms like Instagram and what security measures have been adopted by the company to prevent such illegal and sensitive content.
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, will also be asked how it got permission to run such ads on its platform. Along with this, information will also be sought from the company as to what systems it has implemented to identify content related to child sexual exploitation, remove it and prevent the spread of such content in future.
Sources say the ministry may also seek detailed information on Meta’s content moderation system, ad review process and steps taken to further strengthen action against illegal and harmful content on its platform.
However, till the time of writing the news, no official statement had been issued by Meta on this matter.
This development has come to light at a time when the Indian government had recently stopped the rollout of the WhatsApp username feature. In response, WhatsApp clarified that its new username feature will be completely optional and before its implementation, several security measures have been added to protect against problems like identity theft, online fraud and unwanted contacts.
The company, while answering several questions asked on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), said that it will not be mandatory for any user to create a username. Also, the usernames, names of public figures, government institutions and meta verified accounts already existing on Instagram and Facebook have been kept safe, so that they can be used only by their original owners.
–IANS
DBP
