Supreme Court directs a national hash-database and tighter intermediary duties on child abuse material

The Supreme Court has passed detailed follow-up directions in Just Rights for Children Alliance v. S. Harish, its 2024 ruling on child sexual exploitation and abuse material (CSEAM) circulating on social media. Noting that intermediaries had made little progress since that judgment, the Court directed the Union of India to create a National Hash & URL List Database for detecting and removing CSEAM, with every entry to be confirmed as CSEAM by at least three trained human analysts before it is added. Intermediaries must immediately remove any content matching a database entry of 'known origin,' and must otherwise verify and remove content of 'unknown origin' under the IT Rules, displaying a notice in place of removed material and offering a grievance-redressal route.

On reporting, the Court held that an intermediary's compliance with Section 79 of the IT Act does not excuse it from also reporting CSEAM to the Special Juvenile Police Unit or local police under Section 20 of the POCSO Act and Rule 11 of the POCSO Rules, in addition to any report to the US-based NCMEC; failing this due diligence strips the intermediary of the 'Safe Harbour' protection under Section 79. The Union of India was directed to frame guidelines, amend the IT Rules where necessary, and file a compliance affidavit by the next hearing on 10 December 2026.