SC bars online platforms from hosting subscription-based sexual content

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File image of the Supreme Court | Photo Credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap

The Supreme Court has taken serious note of lapses by social media platforms in curbing sexually explicit visual content depicting minors and directed that every intermediary must ensure that no such material, having the propensity to harm children, is offered, hosted, uploaded or promoted through a paywall or subscription, either directly or indirectly.

A Bench of Justices J. B. Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran said that the court has repeatedly flagged non-compliance with its directions issued in 2024 by the social media intermediaries and platforms, but no action has been taken.

"Every intermediary must ensure that no CSEAM (Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Material), or any other material having the propensity or likelihood to harm children, is offered, hosted, uploaded, promoted or circulated through such paywall or subscription, either directly or indirectly," the Bench said.

It said that the court had flagged how indirect links to such harmful material were being promoted and shared through social media algorithms to bypass the rigours of the special penal provisions designed for the protection of children within cyberspace, namely Sections 15 and 67B of the POCSO Act and the IT Act, respectively.

"Despite more than two years having gone by since our judgement, it appears that there has been no progress worth the name.