Govt asks Google, Facebook, Twitter, more to solve Internet’s porn problem

Facebook has banned all forms of nudity on all its platforms. On YouTube, creators can age-restrict their content.

Indian government is studying the impact of adult content on children. (Pixabay)

Indian government took a stern stand against pornographic content on the Internet by banning nearly 857 websites back in 2015. Since then the government has actively pursued restricting such content within the borders of the country. Now, the government has sought replies from tech companies over the measures that they were taking for restricting the access to pornographic content to the children in the country.

A parliamentary committee led by Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh is studying the issue of pornography on social media and its affect on children and on the society at large. The panel has reached out to companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and ShareChat to discuss how these companies were restricting the access to such content on their respective platforms, a report by The Economic Times states.

Google has responded to the matter by informing the committee that users were required to enter their login details to search for adult content on the platform. The company also told the panel that on YouTube, content creators could age-restrict their videos allowing only the users who were18 years of age or more to access adult content.

Similarly, ShareChat has reportedly called for the the government to have more comprehensive laws, such as US' Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), for protecting children's data and access to specific content online.

Twitter in its response to the government has suggested that the government should take a more constructive approach to the matter and focus on educating young adults about the matter. Facebook, on the other hand, bans all forms of nudity on all its platforms.