An FIR has been filed against Twitter by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) for lying of its origins/links, as well the Information Technology ministry requested to suspend the access of children on the microblogging platform.
NCPCR, in its FIR, claims that Twitter India has claimed it’s not related to Twitter Inc, the USA-based company that runs the social media platform. It’s been found to be a lie, as per NCPCR, since a study found that Twitter Communiations India issued 10,000 shares and 9,999 of them are owned by Twitter Inc. Further, two of three directors on the board of Twitter Communications India are employees of Twitter Inc.
The case relates to NCPCRs crackdown on Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) available on online platforms. The Commission had issued notices to companies like Google, Twitter, WhatsApp and Apple India last year to know the steps taken by them to remove and prevent CSAM on their platforms.
In the notice, the NCPCR has noted that in its enquiry it has been revealed that pornographic materials are accessible on App stores of Google, Apple etc. It has claimed that numerous encrypted WhatsApp groups share Child Sexual Abuse Material. The NCPCR quoted a study which found out that CSAM has gone up by 95% in recent times.
Subsequent to the notice by the NCPCR, asking tech companies to comply with the rules to remove CSAM as per POCSO Act, the Twitter Communications India Pvt Ltd replied that they are not responsive for content shared on Twitter, and it’s the responsibility of the Twitter Inc with which they have no relation, claims NCPCR.
It’s pertinent to highlight that NCPCR is a statutory body established by an Act of the Indian Parliament, and hence making false statements is an offence.
Among the three directors of Twitter India, Winston Foo is the Regional Controller of Twitter Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, the Asia Pacific headquarters of Twitter located in Singapore, and Sean Edgett is General Counsel at Twitter, says a report. The third director Anoop Ashok is an independent director.
Priyank Kanoongo, the head of NCPCR, says that Twitter has links to WhatsApp groups which share CSAM. So are toolkits for dark web which are also available on Twitter, making access to CSAM easier. Kanoongo also mentioned the case of AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair, who had doxed a minor girl, after which people had issued rape threats to the girl.
राषà¥à¤Ÿà¥à¤°à¥€à¤¯ बाल संरकà¥à¤·à¤£ अधिकार आयोग @NCPCR_ के अधà¥à¤¯à¤•à¥à¤· @KanoongoPriyank ने कमिशन को à¤à¥‚ठी जानकारी देने के आरोप में @Twitter के ख़िलाफ़ कारवाई करने के लिये लिखा है। pic.twitter.com/xguZHjxwvZ
— Jitender Sharma (@capt_ivane) May 30, 2021
As per Kanoongo, the Commission has found that Twitter is in violation of sections 11, 15, 19 of the POCSO Act, apart from violating Section 199 of IPC by lying to the enquiry.
It has asked IT ministry to stop access of children to Twitter and block all the account of children till Twitter becomes a safe place for them and starts reporting incidents of sexual abuse of children to the authorities.
