The Supreme Court further tightens the law against child pornography in India

Earlier in January 2020, the 14-member Jairam Ramesh-led Ad Hoc Committee of the Rajya Sabha, constituted by then Vice President M. Venkiah Naidu, submitted a report addressing the critical issue of pornography on social media and the impact on children and young people was addressed. society, and has made several important recommendations to the Union Government to strengthen existing laws and introduce new measures to combat child pornography and protect minors in the digital age.

The committee suggested expanding the ambit of child pornography under the POCSO Act to include written material and audio recordings and making social media intermediaries more accountable. While a number of steps have been taken in recent years to counter this menace, especially in the legal and regulatory areas, there is still a lot to be done as newer techniques emerge to create such content. For example, the use of generative AI has become a serious problem.

The urgency in addressing CSAEM stems from its serious impact on child victims and society as a whole. The creation and dissemination of such material causes enormous trauma to child victims, often with long-lasting psychological and emotional consequences. Once such material is online, it can be shared indefinitely, leading to continued victimization of the children involved.

The existence and dissemination of this material can normalize and encourage the further exploitation of children. The Internet has made this a transnational issue, requiring coordinated international efforts. Social media platforms have not always been able to eradicate these at the rate at which they are loaded and propagated.

This issue is often linked to other serious crimes, such as human trafficking. Research also shows that exposure to violent and degrading sexual content promotes harmful attitudes towards women, leading to an increase in sexual aggression. This is especially alarming in the context of rape and sexual assault, which often arise from a culture influenced by toxic masculinity and unrealistic depictions of sex.