NEW DELHI, India — India’s National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) is moving forward with proceedings to “ban the access of children to Twitter” in the country until the platform “completely removes all pornographic material.”
NCPCR has summoned the head of the Delhi Police Cyber Cell tomorrow to receive in person a filing against Twitter over this matter, television station NDTV reported on Saturday.
It is unclear how NCPCR intends to effect age verification for the 1.3 billion Indians, mostly adults, that would be affected by a potential block.
According to NCPCR chief Priyank Kanoongo, “Twitter was found to have given false and misleading responses during the enquiry conducted by NCPCR for the presence of pornographic and child sexual abuse matter, a grievous offense under the POCSO Act.”
The POCSO Act is a 2012 law hailed in a 2013 document by the Ministry of Women and Child Development as “a comprehensive law to provide for the protection of children from the offenses of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography.” However, both the law and the NCPCR erroneously conflate in their language “child sexual abuse material” (CSAM) and “all pornography.”
NDTV also reports that on May 29, “a letter was issued to the secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information and Technology to initiate a ban on the access of children on Twitter on an immediate basis till the time Twitter makes its platform safe for children by ensuring complete removal of child sexual abuse material and pornographic material and reporting of cybercrime cases to the authorities in India.”
Main Image: NCPCR chief Priyank Kanoongo (Source: NCPCR)