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The Bengaluru Central Cyber Crime unit has taken legal steps to investigate allegations that explicit content was being distributed across the mainstream social media platforms in coordinated fashion, showing the ever-evolving challenges in the transformation of police work in the digital world.
In an effort to make public the identities of the users involved, authorities have registered a First Information Report (FIR) against them accusing them of publishing sexually explicit posts accompanied by captions that actively solicited private engagement on their respective platforms for the purpose of accessing obscene videos.
The complaint alleges that these captions were structured with the intention of encouraging direct messaging under the pretense that they were sharing exclusive content, without disclosing that they were recruiting viewers to external pornographic sites.
Harsha, a 27-year-old employee of a private firm living in Kumarapark West, reported the encounter with an Instagram account disseminating explicit images involving men and women while browsing the platform as the trigger for the investigation.
Harsha lodged a formal grievance through his employer, who involved Police in investigating the incident.
Earlier research has indicated that the posts were intentionally deceptive and contained deceptive prompts like "link in bio" and "DM for video," which investigators believe were deliberately intended to mislead users, drive traffic to adult websites, and use Instagram as a marketing tool in order to draw unsuspecting people into pornographic sites.
User-generated content on social media has intensified regulatory scrutiny in India, where obscenity is legally defined as a form of expression that has the potential to corrupt and morally harm individuals, or that appeals to their prurient interests. Indian legislation governing such violations encompasses both offline as well as digital aspects of the law.
In the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Section 292 prohibits the sale, distribution, and public exhibition of obscene material, whereas in Section 294 it prohibits the conduct of obscene acts or the production of audio content in public places. As the availability of online platforms has increased in recent years, law enforcement agencies have increasingly interpreted this framework to include online platforms as well.
With Section 67 of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, which provides further protection against digital violations, the government is strengthening oversight of digital violations, as the law provides a three-year imprisonment sentence and fine for publishing or transmitting obscene electronic content, while Section 67A increases the punishment to five years when it pertains to sexually explicit material.
Although these safeguards exist, platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and X continue to be confronted with content streams that evade automated moderation, and this raises particular concerns for the younger users. In repeated Parliamentary assessments, the consequences of unchecked pornography have repeatedly been pointed out, including heightened vulnerability among children, the risk of developing behavioral addiction, and an increased exposure to exploitation and objectification.
Bengaluru has experienced a lot of complaints highlighting these fears, with investigators noticing a pattern of accounts sharing reels and posts with misleading prompts like “link in bio”, or inviting people to directly message them for explicit videos, which is believed to funnel audiences to adult sites or private exchanges of obscene material through these tactics.
As part of the FIR filed by Harsha, a reference was made to reel URLs that were widely shared and links were provided to multiple social media profiles that were allegedly assisting in the activity. The case arises quite suddenly amid a landscape characterized by illicit digital markets trading illicit visual images.
An investigation being conducted for the past four months has revealed that stolen CCTV footage has been covertly sold on Telegram, with images that have been sourced from theatres, homes, hostels, hospitals, and student accommodation facilities. This demonstrates how the scale of unregulated content economies is increasing, which operates outside the confines of public platforms and security controls.
The investigators have traced the activity to 28 distinct URLs and identified 28 social media accounts that they believe were involved in posting sexually explicit screenshots, short clips, and promotional captions in order to increase engagement on the website.
It is believed by law enforcement officials that the accounts were designed to encourage users to leave comments or initiate direct message conversations to view full versions of videos, while simultaneously embedding links to adult-focused sites in profile bios using common prompts such as "link in bio" or "DM for video" that they commonly use.
According to authorities, these links directed viewers to external pornographic websites, causing alarms as a result of the unrestricted demographic reach of social networking sites such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and many others. It has been noted that, due to the fact that curiosity-driven clicks to such links can lead children and young users into unmoderated web spaces containing obscene materials, the authorities have raised concerns about incidental exposure among minors.
A police assessment suggests that the alleged motive of the circulation was not only the dissemination of explicit material, but that there was also an attempt to artificially inflate the visibility of an account, the number of followers, and the social media traction of a user.
As an investigation officer told me, the trend constituted a "dangerous escalation of immoral digital marketing tactics," that the misuse of social media platforms as a means of attracting users to pornography poses a serious societal risk and should be punished strictly under the 2000 Information Technology Act.
Additionally, the complaint provided references to viral reel links and a list of participants, causing authorities to formally file 28 accounts at the Central Cybercrime Police Station in order to conduct a structured investigation into the matter.
Several sections of the Information Technology Act have been applied to the filing of a FIR at the Central Cybercrime Police Station, including Section 67, which stipulates penalties for publishing or transmitting obscene material electronically.
Officials are currently investigating this matter, and officials emphasize that social media's accessibility across age groups requires stronger vigilance, tighter content governance, and swift punitive measures when platforms are manipulated in order to facilitate explicit content syndication.
It is apparent from the unfolding investigation that digital platforms, regulators, and users need to work together to strengthen online safety frameworks in order to combat the threat of cyber-attacks.
In addition to the strengthening of monitoring mechanisms implemented by law enforcement agencies, experts note that sustainable deterrence requires a greater focus on improved content governance, a faster takedown protocol, and an enhanced integration of artificial intelligence-driven moderation, which is capable of adapting to evolving evasion techniques without compromising privacy or creative freedom.
According to cyber safety advocates, user awareness plays a crucial role in disrupting such networks, encouraging people to report suspicious handles, links, or captions that appear to be designed for engagement farming, as well as reporting suspicious handles, links, and captions.
In order to keep minors from being accidentally exposed to bio-embedded links, platforms may want to strengthen friction around them and add child safety filters to prevent accidental exposure.
Additionally, public interest groups have advocated the need to create structured collaborations among social media companies and cyber cells in order to map emerging content funnels as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, the digital literacy forums remind us that, although link clicking may seem harmless at first glance, it can lead us into a dangerous web environment, which could involve phishing, malware-laden websites, or illegal content markets.
Ultimately, this case reinforces a bigger message: social media safety is not just a technological issue, but a societal responsibility that requires vigilance, accountability, and informed participation at all levels to ensure users are protected, no matter where they live.
