The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken cognizance of a complaint alleging that young children were being used by a purported coaching centre
in Uttar Pradesh’s Etah in politically-charged videos. The complaint alleges that children, including those as young as three, were being made to participate in scripted videos uploaded on an Instagram account identified as “Pratibha_edu_squad”. It also raises concerns over the children’s dignity, privacy, psychological well-being and whether their parents had consented to the creation and circulation of the videos. Acting on the complaint, an NHRC Bench headed by Member Priyank Kanoongo has issued notices to the Etah Senior Superintendent of Police, District Magistrate, Meta India’s Managing Director and Country Head, and the Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). The Commission has sought Action Taken Reports from the authorities within two weeks. The NHRC has directed the Etah police to identify the children appearing in the videos and ensure that they receive appropriate protection and counselling. The police have also been asked to identify the persons controlling the social media account and examine the role of adults involved in scripting, recording, uploading or otherwise facilitating the content. The Commission has further directed that if the investigation establishes a cognizable offence, appropriate legal action, including registration of an FIR, should be taken. The complaint, which was also highlighted in a X post by Muji Singh Rangi, director of ISSF India, alleges that the purported coaching centre attracted children from economically weaker families but was allegedly using them to create social media content unrelated to their studies. Rangi alleged that more than 1,100 videos involving children had been uploaded and claimed that the children were being made to repeat abusive or political slogans. The NHRC has also sought an explanation from Meta on how content involving minors was repeatedly uploaded and circulated on its platform. The social media company has been asked to clarify whether any monetisation or commercial benefit was generated from the videos, what action was taken to restrict or remove the content, and whether relevant digital evidence has been preserved. The case comes amid wider scrutiny of the impact of social media on children. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has guidelines covering child participation in entertainment and commercial content, including content created for social media. The guidelines stress safeguards against situations that could cause children unnecessary mental or physical suffering and provide for protections relating to consent, education and earnings from online content. The NHRC has stressed that the children should be treated primarily as children requiring protection and assessment, while the investigation should focus on identifying the adults responsible for creating, controlling, uploading or potentially commercially exploiting the content. The development also comes days after the Supreme Court raised concerns over the impact of social media on minors and urged the Centre to consider statutory safeguards governing children's access to social media platforms.
