Mumbai: The Indian government said on Friday that it had sent notices to social media platforms X, formerly Twitter, Google's YouTube and Telegram, asking them to ensure that there are no materials on their platforms that contain child sexual abuse.
The government added in a statement that companies that do not comply may be stripped of their protection from legal liability.
The notices sent by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology stressed the importance of immediately and permanently removing any material containing child sexual abuse on the platforms.
“If they do not act quickly, their safe harbor under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act will be withdrawn and consequences under Indian law will follow,” Minister of State for Information Technology Rajeev Chandrashekhar was quoted as saying in the statement.
The Telegram platform said that material containing child sexual abuse is expressly prohibited under its terms of service.
Representatives of X and Google, which owns YouTube, have not yet responded to requests for comment.
North Korea may launch a military reconnaissance satellite this month
Yonhap News Agency reported that North Korea is likely to launch a military reconnaissance satellite between October 10 and 26.
The agency noted, "On October 10, North Korea celebrates the 78th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, and the expected time frame for the launch of the new satellite may also take into account the holding of the One Belt One Road International Forum in China."
The North Korean authorities had previously announced their intention to carry out a third attempt to launch a satellite in October this year, after two unsuccessful attempts they conducted last May and August.
According to the South Korean Research Center, “Pyongyang will likely try to launch a reconnaissance satellite before South Korea, and North Korea will likely give priority to the political aspect of launching the satellite rather than the technical part.”
According to available information, South Korea plans to launch its first reconnaissance satellite next November.