Google said on Monday it has agreed to report content flagged as child sexual abuse material (CSAM) to Indian authorities.

Updated on: Sep 21, 2026, 21:10:01 IST

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Google said on Monday it has agreed to report content flagged as child sexual abuse material (CSAM) to Indian authorities, departing from its global practice of routing such reports through a US-based non-profit first.

“Google is deeply committed to fighting CSAM online and preventing its platforms from being used to create, store or distribute such material. We invest significantly to detect, deter, remove, and report child sexual abuse material. As part of our ongoing discussions with the Government of India, we have respectfully proposed to operationalize the provision of relevant information to the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) in cases related to child sexual abuse material," said the Google spokesperson.

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India pushes for faster reporting of child sexual abuse material

India is the largest user market for both Meta's Facebook and Google's YouTube. Meta's decision to change its reporting process came after weeks of friction with the Indian government, including an apology by CEO Mark Zuckerberg last month over the spread of child sexual abuse material on the company's platforms.

For years, Meta and Alphabet Inc's Google have reported such content to the US-based National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), which then forwards the reports to law enforcement agencies in the relevant countries.

Indian officials had told technology companies that the existing system could lead to critical delays, particularly in cases where a child may be in immediate danger. Under the system, reports must pass through the US-based intermediary before reaching Indian police who can take action locally, according to a Reuters report.

Global push to speed up detection and reporting

Child sexual abuse material continues to be a major and growing global problem. NCMEC's CyberTipline received more than 21.3 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation from around the world in 2025.

Technology and law enforcement officials in the US, the European Union and other regions have urged online platforms to improve the speed of detection and reporting. However, most countries still route such reports through NCMEC, which remains the main international clearing house for such cases.

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