India's MeitY Probes Instagram Data Scraping and CSAM Issues

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of India is examining the legality of data scraping from public Instagram accounts after facing significant social media backlash. Secretary S. Krishnan announced that the ministry issued two separate notices to the platform: one concerning a username issue and another regarding Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM).

Secretary Krishnan confirmed that the deadline for a response regarding the username issue is July 9. The ministry is still awaiting a formal response concerning the CSAM notice. The government intends to determine if these practices align with the current legal framework based on the representations provided by the platform.

Subsequent actions by the ministry will depend on the content of those responses. Krishnan noted that there has been substantial public concern and pushback on social media regarding these issues, necessitating the current legal review.