Parl panel calls for greater responsibility by social media platforms in reducing crime against women

New Delhi: A Parliamentary panel has called for greater responsibility by social media networks in reducing crime against women. The panel has also asked for the grading of online crimes and asked that the government come up with a standard protocol for dealing with such cases.

The Committee on the Empowerment of Women, chaired by D Purandeshwari, has recommended that intermediaries strictly adhere to the prescribed timelines.

“... digital platforms, particularly social media, messaging, and hosting services must be held to higher accountability standards. The Committee recommends fast-tracked data-sharing frameworks, stricter and shorter compliance timelines, mandatory deployment of AI-driven detection tools, and transparent reporting of child safety and women’s safety measures,” the committee has noted in its report.

The panel has also urged the ministry to introduce age-appropriate regulations and calibrated usage limits on social media platforms to safeguard children and adolescents from the adverse psychological impacts of social media usage.

The panel has noted that new-generation technologies such as Generative AI, IoT devices, machine learning, and 5G have created sophisticated avenues for exploitation.

“Deepfake pornography, synthetic explicit content, and AI-enabled impersonation have greatly complicated detection, takedown, and forensic tracking. Offenders increasingly leverage encrypted platforms, VPNs, cloud servers, spoofed identities, virtual numbers, and dark web infrastructure, making attribution and investigation more challenging,” the panel said, adding that the 239 per cent increase in cybercrimes against women between 2017 and 2022 points to the trend as well as increased awareness.

The panel has recommended that the Ministry of Home Affairs formulates a victim-centric and uniform SOP that focuses on accessibility, confidentiality, and immediate support for women and children, which should be shared with States.

It has also asked for the rapid establishment of additional regional forensic units, mobile cyber forensic vans, and dedicated cyber forensic consultants in every State.

The panel has recommended that both the MHA and Ministry of IT jointly design a national cyber safety awareness programme with dedicated outreach through schools, colleges, Panchayati Raj Institutions, SHGs, Anganwadi and ASHA networks, CSCs, and civil society organisations etc.

“ … in view of technological advancements and real-time monitoring capabilities, adopt upgraded rapid response systems to enable near-immediate action. Content involving intimate image abuse, impersonation, CSAM/CSEAM, and malicious deepfakes should be accorded the highest priority and removed at the earliest upon detection or reporting,” the pane has recommended.