Government proposes up to 7 years jail with no bail for sharing child porn on WhatsApp

In an attempt to put a stop at adult videos circulating on the popular messaging service WhatsApp, the Indian government plans to impose new rules. the authorities have reportedly proposed new amendments under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act to prevent people from sharing pornographic videos of minors.

People who are caught circulating such content will be jailed for up to seven years in jail and no bail, alongside a huge sum as fines. According to The Times of India report, the new amendments are "awaiting the approval of the law ministry and the ministry of women and child development" and will be cleared in the upcoming weeks after which they will be sent to the cabinet.

The amended Act also notes that anyone who shares child pornography on WhatsApp specifically for commercial use will be sentenced up to 3 years of jail. In case of a second offense, the suspect will be jailed for no less than five years and up to seven years.

While there no punishment announced for people who receive child porn videos on their phones accidentally, but the amended Act makes it mandatory to report any such incident to the authorities. Users who report the video are also asked to delete the video. Not reporting the video could lead to a fine of Rs 1,000, the first time and will be no less than Rs 5,000 in case of a second offense.

India has WhatsApp's biggest user base in the world and but also the misused. This has led to the circulation of child porn, fake news, and provoking content. While watching adult porn isn't illegal in India, sharing it for commercial purposes isn't allowed. Sharing and keeping child porn, however, is a criminal offense in India.

Back in July, WhatsApp rolled out a new feature that labeled forwarded messages in one-on-one and group chats. This lets the users know if the message that is being sent to them was written by the person who sent them the message, or it's a forwarded message.

The purpose behind rolling out this feature is to fight the circulation of fake news, which is becoming a big issue for the messaging app. The labels will only appear on the latest version of WhatsApp. So if you are running the older version, it's time to update the app.