Google has agreed to directly report content flagged as child sexual abuse material to Indian authorities, a move away from its previous practice of routing such reports through a US-based non-profit. This decision comes in response to pressure from the Indian government, which raised concerns that the intermediary reporting process caused delays and could endanger children.

Google has agreed to directly report content flagged as child sexual abuse material to Indian authorities, a move away from its previous practice of routing such reports through a US-based non-profit. This decision comes in response to pressure from the Indian government, which raised concerns that the intermediary reporting process caused delays and could endanger children.

Google has agreed to directly report content flagged as child sexual abuse material to Indian authorities, a move away from its previous practice of routing such reports through a US-based non-profit. This decision comes in response to pressure from the Indian government, which raised concerns that the intermediary reporting process caused delays and could endanger children.

Google has agreed to report content flagged as child sexual abuse material directly to Indian authorities, marking a departure from the global system under which such reports are first sent to a US-based non-profit before being passed on to law enforcement agencies in the country concerned.

The decision comes in the wake of pressure from the Indian government for technology companies to change the way they report such material involving India.

Two Indian government sources had earlier told news agency Reuters that authorities had in recent weeks urged companies including Google and Microsoft to directly alert Indian agencies about child sexual abuse content linked to the country.

Indian officials have raised concerns that routing the information through an intermediary can cause delays, particularly in cases where a child could be in immediate danger.

A Google spokesperson said the company "invests significantly to detect, deter, remove, and report child sexual abuse material", describing the proposed reporting arrangement as part of its "ongoing discussions with the government of India".

For years, Google's parent Alphabet and Meta have reported such content to the US-based National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. The organisation then forwards the reports to the relevant law enforcement authorities in the country involved.

India's concerns centre on the additional time involved in this process.

According to the two sources cited by Reuters, Indian officials told technology platforms that valuable time could be lost when reports first travel through the US organisation before reaching Indian police, who are in a position to intervene locally

Meta announced a similar shift last week after weeks of friction with the Indian government. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had also apologised last month over the spread of child sexual abuse material on the company's platforms.

India is the largest market by users for both Google's YouTube and Meta's Facebook.

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