Smriti Irani appeals to Meta to work for children in emergencies
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New Delhi: Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smirti Irani urged social media giant Meta to work with the child helpline to provide quick relief to children in emergencies, PTI reported.
Speaking at Digital Suraksha Summit on Monday, the minister expressed her concern over videos being made in unsafe circumstances by social media users and asked Meta to work with institutions like NIMHANS to run mental health programmes.
She said, "The government, in collaboration with all state governments, runs a helpline 1098, which is the child helpline. But there is absolutely no symmetry between this helpline and that helpline. Some kids will presume that your helpline was the helpline to call when they are in mortal danger."
At present, Meta has a tie-up with Rati Foundation to provide help to children.
Irani said that during an emergency, a child calls an NGO, which is obviously not equipped in order to give an immediate response. NGOs are not equipped enough to make quick responses, she said.
"There are these gaps that still need to be sewn over. I'm mindful of the fact that Meta has never digressed on administrative responsiveness. But those are the issues...that need to get addressed. Push the 1098 number to say, call this if you are in mortal danger," she said.
"If we want to service the needs of child safety with alacrity, we need to work with agencies that have a quick response time...The government and agencies in law and order are committed to responding with speed to people in danger," the minister stated.
