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Delhi High Court has ordered Google and Microsoft to Improve their techniques for dealing with non-consensual intimate images (NCII)

Background

 Delhi High Court in its 2023 judgement held that, according to the IT Rules, 2021, search engines must remove NCII within 24 hours, or else they risk losing their safe harbour protections under Section 79 of the IT Act, 2000. It told search engines to provide a special token when NCII was first taken down. The search engine would have to employ its built-in technology to deactivate the material if the token reappeared. This was done with the intention of addressing the problem that victims would otherwise have to remember to follow certain URLs each time this content resurfaced and constantly approach authorities with them. The Court suggested employing hash-matching technology in addition to the existing methods employed by platforms (such as the defendant Microsoft) to eliminate content related to child sexual abuse. It also pointed out that the way reports are now handled contradicts the goal of the IT Rules, 2021, which is remove all illegal content. They also recommended that search engines and the IT Ministry create a “trusted third-party encrypted platform” that victims may register the NCII URL or content under. This will lessen the victim’s burden of “scouring” the Internet for NCII by placing the responsibility for finding and removing the reappeared content on the platform. They stated that because sensitive data is involved, the platform should be “subject to [the] greatest of transparency and accountability.

Matter of concern

Seeking an order to block certain Intermediaries like- Google, Microsoft which were exhibiting non-consensual intimate images.

Court’s direction

On May 9, the Delhi High Court directed Google and Microsoft to submit a review petition asking for the recall of an earlier ruling that mandated search engines to immediately block access to non-consensual intimate photographs (NCII) without continuously asking the victim for particular URLs. According to Bar and Bench, Microsoft and Google claimed in their appeal to the courts today that it is not feasible for search engines to recognise and remove NCII photos on a proactive basis due to technological limitations. They contended that these photos could not be identified by even the most sophisticated Artificial Intelligence technologies. Senior Advocate Jayant Mehta, speaking on behalf of Microsoft, stated, “Technology is evolving but we have not reached that stage yet.” with reference to the removal of NCII photos without URLs. It is not possible to state that search engine must comply with this requirement by today or else your immunity will be lost. It’s still a work in progress. In the past, Google claimed that automated technologies were unable to identify “the factor of consent,” which is necessary for classifying NCII.

Consensually posted sexual content may be removed as a result of these technologies.
Microsoft has expressed worries that this proactive monitoring could result in “privatized censorship” and undermine free expression, in addition to technical difficulties.

Conclusion

At this time, AI systems are unable to recognize and remove non-consensual intimate photos on their own. Both companies suggested that human participation is still necessary to effectively and ethically handle the removal of such photos from their platforms, acknowledging the limitations of artificial intelligence in managing such complex and sensitive information.

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Written By- Shreyasi Ghatak