Delhi Police files FIR against Twitter over access to child pornography on platform

New Delhi: The Delhi Police has registered an FIR against Twitter for allegedly allowing access to child pornography on the microblogging platform on a complaint by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), officials said on Tuesday. The case has been registered under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the IT Act, they said. This comes days after the NCPCR, the country’s apex child rights body, asked Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Cell) Anyesh Roy to explain why no action had been taken against Twitter as per its letter to the Delhi Police dated 29 May. In its letter, the NCPCR had asked the Delhi Police to book Twitter on the basis of the findings of its recent inquiry in which it had found that child sexual abuse material (CSAM) was easily available on the platform. Delhi Police Public Relations Officer Chinmoy Biswal said, “Acting on a complaint received from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights regarding the availability of child sexual abuse and child pornographic material on Twitter in the form of various accounts and links, an FIR under relevant sections of IPC, IT Act and POCSO Act has been registered by the Cyber Crime Unit, and investigation has been taken up.” The complaint was against Twitter Inc and Twitter Communication India Private Ltd., the police said. In its May 29 letter, the NCPCR had said that it was found that “the toolkit for deep and dark web” was also available on Twitter. This gives access to all, including children, to obtain CSAM.