Google will report child abuse content directly to Indian authorities
A Google spokesperson said the company is “significantly investing in detecting, deterring, removing and reporting child sexual abuse material” and described the proposal as part of the company’s “ongoing discussions with the Government of India”. File | Photo credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
Google said on Monday (September 22, 2026) that it had agreed to report content labeled as child sexual abuse material to Indian authorities, breaking a global practice where such reports are first routed through a US nonprofit.
The decision follows a similar announcement by Meta last week. This comes after two Indian government sources told Reuters that in recent weeks they have urged technology companies such as Google and Microsoft to directly report child abuse content related to India, amid concerns that the existing system significantly delays reporting.
A Google spokesperson said the company is “significantly investing in detecting, deterring, removing and reporting child sexual abuse material” and described the proposal as part of the company’s “ongoing discussions with the Government of India”.
India is the biggest market for Facebook’s Meta and Google’s YouTube, according to users, and Meta’s own change follows weeks of friction with the Indian government, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s apology last month for spreading child sexual abuse material on the company’s platforms.
For years, Google Meta and Alphabet Inc have filed such reports with the U.S. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which then forwards the reports to law enforcement agencies in the respective country.
Indian officials have told tech platforms that the arrangement costs valuable time in cases where a child may be in active danger, as reports go through this middleman before reaching domestic police, who can act, according to two sources.
Child sexual abuse materials remain a large and growing global problem. CyberTipline, run by the same non-profit organization, received more than 21.3 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation from around the world in 2025. Tech and law enforcement officials in the United States, the European Union and elsewhere have pushed platforms to speed up detection and reporting, though most countries continue to send reports through a major international nonprofit.
Published – 22 Sep 2026 07:51 IST