New Delhi: ‘Friends nowadays Telegram is banning many adult channels. Our channel is also banned. So please join this backup channel for feature updates. If Telegram bans our channel we will give you a new channel link on this channel,’ reads a message from a Telegram group after the messaging app banned the original group.
Like many others, this group started selling clips of child pornography, listed as ‘cp’ videos, on a new channel. Such groups, that also share adult videos including those of ‘rape and forced’, reveal an amoebic trend — they shut down on being reported, but hundreds of new ones spring up the very next day in their place.
The proliferation of such groups can be imagined from the fact that, according to data posted on the Telegram channel ‘Stop Child Abuse’, over 2,193 groups and channels related to child abuse were banned by Telegram on 26 July this year.
They were among the 53,009 such groups and channels banned in the month of July and 6,70,000 banned this year, as of 26 July.
Given the scenario, child porn addicts continue to get content online even as investigating agencies, NGOs, and international agencies keep a tight vigil on Telegram and social media apps.
In an email response to ThePrint, Telegram said that it “is always committed to upholding legal and ethical standards on the platform, particularly in this case of addressing issues related to Child Pornography (CP), Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), and Rape and Gang Rape (RGR) content, in accordance with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021”.
Investigating agencies, meanwhile, have time and again launched high-tech operations such as Delhi Police’s Masoom, Kerala Police’s Operation P-Hunt 20.2, leading to various arrests and registration of cases related to CSAM. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), too, has raided locations and launched massive manhunts under Operations Carbon and Megha Chakra to crack down on child pornography.
But, the efforts have fallen short, partly because of technological challenges posed by Telegram.
Investigators told ThePrint that the Dubai-headquartered messaging platform is “opaque” when it comes to providing information. “Telegram is not at all cooperative with Indian investigating agencies. No law enforcement agency from Europe or the West can lay a finger on Telegram,” said a source in the Delhi Police who did not wish to be named.
In its FAQ section on taking down illegal content, Telegram states that chats and group chats are private among subscribers. “We do not process any requests related to them. But stickers sets, channels and bots on Telegram are publicly available,” it adds.
Surge in consumption of CSAM
The price for adult content and child sexually abusive material on Telegram ranges from Rs 99 to Rs 350. For just Rs 50 to Rs 99, ThePrint found that users get a variety of content often listed as ‘huge collection of videos and new stocks available’.
In fact, it is not even a tedious task to find sellers here unlike on the Dark Web. Telegram offers an easier route: a few right keywords lead users to the world of adult content and child sex abuse material.
The right keywords — mms, leaked, Indian girls, young girls, viral videos, TeraBox videos — can land anyone in any such group with child porn dealers. There are some hits and misses but a consistent search will find the user the child pornography content they are looking for. To root out fake sellers, the ones with “cp” have a private channel for payments and screenshot proofs of other users.
“Sellers, buyers and viewers find Telegram easy and accessible. Not everyone knows how to access child porn on the Dark Web. The sellers download it from Dark Web and sell it on social media platforms. Telegram market for child pornography is huge. Even though payments are made through UPI, to zero down on the suspects and then to prove the reason behind the payment is a tedious task. Payments also take place in cryptocurrencies,” said another source in the Delhi Police.
According to Telegram’s FAQs, groups created on the platform can have as many as 2 lakh members. Moreover, the messaging app also provides for advanced level security and privacy features. Another daunting aspect in CSAM cases is tracing and removing the content, but it is no small task, given the complexities involved.
“The internet is an ocean — one file can reach different platforms in a second. To zero down on the origin of the videos from the huge quantity of shares is not always technologically possible, especially due to the use of VPN. In some cases, even if the accused is arrested, the content, for instance leaked videos, cannot be removed from all platforms,” the first source explained.
Adding, “Telegram will only provide the IP address or the user ID if they find that it is Indian. If the user is using VPN, and is routed from some other country, Telegram doesn’t share any details stating that it is not the territory of Indian law.”
Despite laws to address these crimes, India continues to deal with rampant cases of child pornography. A report published by India Child Protection Fund (ICPF) in 2020 revealed that the consumption of child sexual abuse content in the country spiked by nearly 95 percent during the COVID-19 lockdown.
“While all child pornography is violent, 18 percent individuals exhibited explicit intent for videos where children were choking, bleeding, tortured, in pain or screaming,” the report, titled ‘Child Sexual Abuse Material in India’, said.
The pandemic period saw a nearly 1,600 percent jump in child pornography cases, going up from 44 in 2018 to 738 in 2020, according to data presented in the Lok Sabha.
Payments for these videos are even made through UPI and screenshots with names blurred out posted on a connecting channel called — “payment proofs” to assure other users of the validity of the content, according to investigators. In some channels, the UPI scanner is provided along with the links of TeraBox — a Japanese website that monetises views.
Sellers can be seen blatantly posting messages such as ‘selling CP’, and users also put out messages like ‘bro, need kids video’. In most groups, admins post categories of adult content in which CSAM is also listed as ‘school girls’ ranging to 400-plus Terabyte content. More the content bought, bigger the discount.
In one such Telegram channel, ‘Indian girls chatting’, users also seek partners for sexting or video calls while agents often with names like ‘Seller bro’ list out content ranging from ‘Indian CP to Foreign CP’.
Then, there are some channels listed as ‘Demo channels’ that boast of ‘biggest CP Mega collection & channels’.
And the tentacles have spread to other platforms like Instagram where links to Telegram channels and TeraBox file sharing content are available.
Groups with names such as ‘viral mms’, ‘desi mms’, ‘leaked tapes’, ‘terabox telegram’ often provide users with links to CSAM on Telegram. Often, these Instagram pages and accounts — mostly fake created by hackers — post click bait content of deep fake and morphed pictures and screenshots of CSAM to lure users to Telegram.
In 2023, Hyderabad-based NGO Prajwala through a covert operation revealed how online payment portals are being used for sexual predators for distribution, buying and selling of CSAM. Sunitha Krishnan, founder of the NGO, had noted that through the covert operation, the NGO in a span of 15 days had gotten nearly 38 GB of CSAM for just Rs 600.
Law, ‘one-offs’ & contrasting judgements
In India, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) and Section 67-B of the Information Technology Act, in addition to the Juvenile Justice Act, deal with offences related to child pornography.
Section 67B of the IT Act criminalises publishing or transmitting any electronic material that portrays children in a sexually explicit act or conduct. It also applies to individuals who facilitate the actual act of publication or transmission of such material.
First-time conviction can result in a jail term of 5 years and fine up to Rs 10 lakh. In subsequent convictions, imprisonment may extend up to 7 years and fine up to the same amount.
Under the POCSO, Section 14 penalises those found “using children for pornographic purposes”. In first-time convictions, the punishment is jail term not less than 5 years and fine, whereas a minimum of 7 years of jail and fine is prescribed for subsequent offences.
Section 15, which deals with storage of such material with the intention of distribution, can land a convict imprisonment of up to 3 years, or with a fine, or both.
In January, the Madras High Court quashed criminal proceedings against a 28-year-old man, who was accused of downloading and watching pornographic content involving children on his mobile phone. The man was slapped with relevant sections of the POCSO Act and the IT Act after his mobile phone was found to have two child pornography videos.
In his defence, the man stated that the videos were auto-downloaded through WiFi.
“The materials that have been placed before this court do not make out an offence against the petitioner under Section 67-B of IT Act and Section 14(1) of POCSO Act,” the judge said, adding that downloading and possessing child pornography wouldn’t draw prosecution.
Petitions were filed against the ruling. While the Supreme Court reserved its judgement on the matter in April, the Chief Justice of India had said at the time that merely downloading or watching child porn may not be an offence unless there is an intention to distribute the content. The CJI added that using children in pornography is an offence.
Earlier in 2021, the Madras High Court granted anticipatory bail to a man accused of browsing, downloading and transmitting child pornographic content taking into consideration that it “appears to be a one-off act”.
“Of course, child pornography is a very serious issue warranting a firm approach. But I would make a distinction between a one time consumer and those who transmit or propagate or display or distribute in the digital domain,” the court had noted.
“In the case on hand, the petitioner is said to have shared the offending material with his friend through Facebook messenger. Since the petitioner has not come under adverse notice after the occurrence and since he had also extended his fullest co-operation with the investigation, I am inclined to grant him anticipatory bail,” observed the judge.
In July, the Karnataka High Court had recalled its earlier order stating that viewing child pornography isn’t an offence under Section 67B of the IT Act while granting relief to a man accused of watching child pornography for 50 minutes.
“We are also human beings and mistakes do happen on our side. There is always an opportunity for corrections. An inquiry will be done in this regard and a new order will be delivered. This order is cancelled,” the bench said.
Section 67B of the IT Act mandates that anyone browsing, downloading, viewing and transmitting child pornography shall face a criminal investigation as to their intent and conduct, Internet Freedom Foundation founding-director Apar Gupta told ThePrint.
“Hence, even downloading a WhatsApp forward will warrant a case when there is an intent to view child pornography. Here, intent, as in most criminal cases, is usually an issue of evidence if the physical conduct which is downloading a clip of child pornography is present,” he said.
Adding, “Again, whether or not, the accused had the mental intention to view such material or had the intent to further transmit such content will only be clear during the course of the trial and this will happen during the stage of evidence.”
On its part, Telegram said that it maintained a zero-tolerance policy towards any unlawful activities conducted by users regarding CP/CSAM/RGR content.
“We take immediate and stringent action as prescribed by the law of the land in response to any such violations. When CP/CSAM/RGR content is reported, we initiate prompt actions to remove the offending material. Our average response time for removal is 10-12 hours, well within the permissible time limit of 24 hours as stipulated by the aforementioned regulations,” the messaging app said in its email response to ThePrint.
“We have a specialised team working towards removing all the illegal content that falls under the child abuse category. We report the number of banned groups and channels in this category on a daily basis on this public channel,” it added.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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