India Asks Meta To Remove Instagram Child Abuse Ads: Report
MeitY has sought an explanation within seven days after a BBC investigation found that paid Instagram advertisements in India allegedly promoted child sexual abuse material and directed users to Telegram channels.
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The Indian government has asked Meta to immediately disable advertisements and content on Instagram that promote or facilitate access to child sexual abuse material, The Indian Express reported, citing a senior government official.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued the notice to Instagram on Saturday and sought a detailed explanation from Meta within seven days, the report said.
The ministry has asked Meta to explain how such advertisements were approved and displayed despite Instagram’s ad review and moderation systems. It has also sought details of the safeguards in place to detect such material and the corrective steps taken after the issue was flagged.
The action follows a BBC Eye investigation published on 3 July, which found that Instagram had approved paid advertisements allegedly promoting child sexual abuse material in India and directing users to Telegram channels where such material was being sold.
As part of the investigation, the BBC said it created a test Instagram account in India and found that the platform began showing sexually explicit advertisements after the account followed profiles posting suggestive content. The account later received advertisements allegedly linked to child sexual abuse material.
The Economic Times reported that the BBC identified about 30 paid Instagram advertisements from the test account that promoted or linked to such material through external Telegram channels.
Responding to PTI’s queries on the BBC report, a Meta spokesperson said in an email that the company has a zero-tolerance policy for child sexual exploitation and abuse, including in advertisements.
The spokesperson said Meta uses advanced AI technology to proactively detect violating content and individuals, but remains in a “constant battle” with criminals who hide among its 3.5 billion users and try to evade detection.
Meta said it had removed the advertisements identified by the BBC investigation, disabled associated advertiser accounts and was working to strengthen detection systems, block links to violating websites and share intelligence with other companies.
The company rejected the suggestion that Instagram deliberately targeted advertisements featuring children at users with an inappropriate interest in such material. It said no review system is perfect and that some policy-violating advertisements can evade detection.
The notice adds to growing scrutiny of Meta’s systems in India, where the government has also raised concerns over the proposed rollout of WhatsApp usernames and the possible misuse of such features for impersonation, phishing and online fraud.
