Meta officials admitted to a mistake before the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) on Wednesday and agreed to directly report child abuse-related content to Indian law enforcement agencies, government sources said.The company also indicated that it would itself vet such content in future, a move that assumes significance amid growing scrutiny of the role played by Meta’s algorithms in amplifying content and determining what users see on Instagram and Facebook.Meta India chief Arun Srinivas and other senior executives appeared before the child rights panel for the second time in a week as the NCPCR stepped up its inquiry into alleged advertisements linked to Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM) on Instagram.During the hearing, Meta officials acknowledged the mistake and agreed to strengthen the company’s mechanism for reporting child safety-related cases in India, the government sources said.They claimed that under the new arrangement, Meta will directly report child abuse content to the Indian agencies through the cybercrime portal managed by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C).“This is a big thing that they themselves have shared their responsibility for reporting such content,” the sources said, adding that Meta had not made a similar commitment in any other country.They described this as a significant shift in the company’s position on its role and responsibilities in the social media ecosystem.The development comes amid questions over whether social media platforms can be treated simply as passive intermediaries when their algorithms and automated systems play a role in recommending, amplifying and determining the visibility of content.The government sources said Meta could no longer be viewed merely as a “simple intermediary” and should instead be regarded as a “service provider” with greater responsibility for the content appearing on its platforms.They said Meta’s use of algorithms to amplify content and determine its visibility means the company plays a more active role in deciding what users see. This places greater responsibility on the platform than what is traditionally associated with a passive intermediary.The sources further said, “Every service provider has responsibilities. Once Meta has agreed to be responsible for what they have on the platform, as the next steps, they have to start taking many more responsibilities.”They further said that if Meta charges for and exercises control over the content it chooses to display or amplify, its role cannot be viewed solely through the traditional concept of an intermediary.Meta had previously routed child safety-related cases primarily through the US-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). Its decision to report such matters directly to the Indian authorities represents a change in that process.Srinivas did not respond to repeated media queries about the proceedings as he left the NCPCR office after Wednesday’s hearing.The latest appearance followed the September 9 hearing, at which senior Meta executives appeared before the commission. The NCPCR, subsequently, summoned Meta India’s managing director and other senior officials again as part of its formal inquiry.Earlier, during a meeting in August between the representatives of Meta and the government, they had discussed a range of issues, including compliance with Indian laws, safeguards for the removal of posts involving prominent personalities and concerns over Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM).During the meeting, the government had also asked Meta executives to demonstrate in specific terms how their platforms were complying with Indian laws with respect to the freedom of expression, privacy, content moderation and trust around digital spaces. “You cannot run your platform in India and follow the US Constitution,” sources had said at the time.In July, a Meta team had met Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTy) officials after a notice was summoned to them by the government on the issue of the rollout of the ‘usernames’ feature on WhatsApp in India. The concerns of the government related to the feature was clearly informed to the team.The child rights body had taken suo motu cognisance of a media report on alleged CSEAM-related advertisements on the platform and sought an explanation from Meta.The government has also questioned whether Meta can claim legal immunity in the matter, although officials have stressed that the final interpretation of the law and any determination on immunity rests with the judiciary.