Supreme Court of India closed the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed to address the rampant circulation of child pornography and videos depicting gang rape and rape on platforms like WhatsApp and other social media. The PIL, initiated in 2015 by the Court itself based on a letter from the NGO Prajwala to the then Chief Justice of India, has now reached a satisfactory conclusion, according to the Court's order.

A division bench consisting of Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice Vikram Nath noted that an expert committee, chaired by the Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, had been constituted by the Court to tackle the issue. This committee included representatives from intermediaries such as Facebook and WhatsApp, along with experts from relevant government bodies. The Court had been actively monitoring the progress of this committee.

The Court acknowledged that on the larger issues concerning the prevention of the dissemination of explicit videos related to child pornography and sexual violence, the committee had achieved a consensus and made substantial progress. However, some technical aspects of implementation remained, which the Court deemed appropriate for the Union government to address.

The petitioner's counsel, Adv. Aparna Bhat, raised concerns about non-compliance by intermediaries and pointed out that explicit content was still accessible despite directives. For instance, when searching for 'Child Porn' on Google, warnings were displayed only in certain sections, while others lacked such warnings. Similarly, WhatsApp's in-app reporting button appeared non-functional.

In response, the intermediaries' representatives, Sr. Adv. Aravind Datar for Facebook (now Meta) and Sr. Adv. Kapil Sibal for WhatsApp, defended their efforts in complying with the directives. They highlighted the extensive actions taken to identify and stop child pornography using artificial intelligence, claiming an impressive 99% action rate in India before reports were even filed.

The Court, while acknowledging the efforts made by the intermediaries, stated that some issues might be beyond their control. It also emphasized the government's role in monitoring further compliance.

Taking all aspects into account, the Supreme Court decided to close the proceedings, considering that substantial issues had been resolved and that further monitoring of technical concerns was not feasible for the Court. The Court entrusted the Union of India with the task of addressing any non-compliance issues that might arise in the future. If unresolved issues persist, the parties involved can approach the Court again to seek appropriate relief.

This decision marks a significant step towards combating the circulation of explicit and harmful content on social media platforms, protecting the safety and well-being of children and victims of sexual violence.

[Case Title: In Re: Prajwala Letter Dated 18.2.2015 Videos Of Sexual Violence And Recommendations, SMW(CRL.) NO. 3/2015]