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The Delhi High Court has ordered several major tech companies, including Google, Meta, Reddit, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and Telegram, to present their standard operating procedure (SOP) for responding to police information requests.
The directive is tied to an investigation into a missing child in the National Capital Territory (NCT) and highlights growing concerns about the delays faced by law enforcement when seeking critical data from social media platforms.
The case at the centre of the court’s order involves a missing child who had an Instagram account, reports MediaNama. On September 4, the police formally requested Meta, Instagram’s parent company, to provide crucial data linked to the account. This included the phone number, IP address, and IMEI number of the device used by the child.
However, by September 19, Meta had not responded, prompting the court to step in and demand further cooperation.
Meta’s legal team informed the court that the requested information had been uploaded to a platform specifically designed for law enforcement agencies to communicate with Meta.
Additionally, they mentioned that Meta regularly conducts training programs to help police personnel navigate its portal. Despite this, the police reported delays in receiving the data, leading the court to issue its directive.
The court’s decision to request SOPs stems from repeated concerns about the time ag between police information requests and the platforms’ responses. This lag, the court noted, could have significant consequences in cases involving missing persons, particularly children and minors.
While the court had previously instructed these platforms to speed up their processes, the delay in this case has underscored the need for a clearer understanding of how these platforms handle such requests.
“In order to ensure that such delay and lag does not impede the process of tracing out missing persons who are sometimes been children and minors, it is necessary that proper timelines ought to be adhered to by the concerned online platforms and their concerned officials,” the court stated in its order.
The court also emphasised the importance of ensuring that police personnel are properly trained to use these platforms, post information requests, and download the data provided by the companies. The aim is to streamline the process and avoid unnecessary delays hindering investigations.
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