Science & TechPolicy
Child rights body summons Google over AI 'kiss and hug' apps on Play Store
The NCPCR says child-safety guidelines for social media, gaming and AI platforms will come by December, with age checks and new reporting tools.
Key points
- The NCPCR has called Google to a meeting later this month over AI apps that make intimate videos from photos.
- The commission plans child-safety guidelines by December for social media, gaming and AI platforms.
- Member-Secretary Sanjeev Sharma said "co-regulation is the key" and guidelines would be quicker than new laws.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has summoned Google over artificial intelligence apps on its Play Store that turn photos of real people into videos of them kissing and hugging, and says it will issue child-safety guidelines for social media, gaming and AI platforms by December.
The commission has asked the company to a meeting later this month. Dozens of such “AI kiss and hug” apps were found on Google Play in India in August, several with more than a million downloads. They produced intimate videos from anyone’s photo without checking consent, carried no AI label on what they made, and in some cases were rated as suitable for children as young as three. Google has not commented publicly on the summons.
“Co-regulation is the key”
NCPCR Member-Secretary Sanjeev Sharma spoke about the plan on Wednesday at the Trust and Safety India Festival in New Delhi. “We have already had consultation with them,” he said of the platforms, adding that the guidelines would come “very soon”.
He explained why the commission was choosing guidelines over a change in the law. “If you ask me to change legislation, it will take time,” Sharma said. “Co-regulation is the key.”
On Monday, Women and Child Development Minister Annapurna Devi chaired a review meeting and directed the commission to fast-track both the guidelines and an AI tool to detect abuse material.
What the rules may contain
The guidelines are expected to bring age assurance-based controls on social media, reporting options for short videos such as Reels, and stricter norms on AI-generated content across platforms. They are meant to be “dynamic”, with the ministry and other bodies able to add to them over time.
The NCPCR is also building an AI-based tool with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to find and remove child sexual abuse material. It will be shared with state police forces.
The rules already on the books
India notified amendments to its IT intermediary rules on 10 February to deal with synthetically generated content, though it is not clear whether they cover standalone apps that generate such videos. Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, platforms will need verifiable parental consent before processing the data of anyone under 18 from May 2027.
This is not the commission’s first approach to the big platforms. In 2024 it met Google, YouTube, X, Snapchat, ShareChat, Reddit and Bumble, and asked them to build parental-consent systems and file action-taken reports.
Other voices
Other speakers at the festival urged balance. Uthara Ganesh, Snap Inc’s head of public policy for Asia-Pacific, said the guidelines should reflect “progressive autonomy” for young users. Lucy Thomas, co-founder of the Australian youth group Project Rockit, said young people’s trust in adults was at an all-time low “because we’ve created these technologies without including them”. Mahima Kaul of Netflix India said parents “want safer spaces for their kids”.