WhatsApp Claims That It Will Not Tolerate Child Pornography Vile

On Friday, the messaging platform, WhatsApp declared that it has no rooms for child pornography and it will take action against any act of dissemination of child pornography like accounts banning based on reports by users.

Child pornography is termed by WhatsApp as ‘vile’. WhatsApp also said that it abides by any law enforcement’s legal requests to look further into these crimes.

In a statement on WhatsApp’s firm decision against child pornography, a spokesperson from the tech firm said that although messages shared between users are private and sensitive, based on user reports, actions like accounts banning can be implemented.

The comments were made at the same time as the Supreme Court announced on Thursday that giant tech firms including Microsoft, Facebook, and Google all agreed that inappropriate videos with sensitive content like child pornography, objectionable material and raping must be ‘stamped out’.

According to justices, Madan B Lokur and U U Lalit, they received ‘different reaction’ from intermediaries in response to the Centre’s given suggestions including pro-active monitoring tools. By using AI (Artificial Intelligence) based tools, these monitoring tools will auto delete illegal content.

While Youtube and Google have one reaction, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Microsoft each have their different opinions. The bench of justices said that each tech firm will need to file their proposal or a draft for SoP (standard operating procedure) regarding the Centre’s suggestions.

The draft proposal will be based on one agreement that rape videos, child pornography, and objectionable material need to be removed.

Last month, the Centre made a suggestion to the court, in which it is stated that trusted flaggers to identify and delete illegal content should be deployed. Also, a 24x7 mechanism to deal with law enforcement agencies’ requisitions will also be needed to be set up.

Law enforcement agencies’ requisitions to delete inappropriate contents should be handled immediately.