The Indian government has directed Meta⁠ to immediately remove advertisements and content on Instagram⁠ that promote or facilitate child sexual abuse material following reports that such content appeared as paid advertisements on the platform.

The government also demanded an explanation from Meta within seven days on how advertisements containing such material were allowed to run on Instagram.

A senior official in India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said the government had taken a firm position on the issue.

“The government has issued a stern notice to Meta over child sexual exploitative and abuse material appearing in paid advertisements on Instagram,” the official said.

The official added that authorities had “ordered Instagram to disable all ads and content promoting or facilitating access” to such material.

“The government has sought a detailed explanation from Meta within seven days,” the official added.

The action follows an investigation which found that paid advertisements promoting child sexual abuse material had appeared on Instagram in India, with some directing users to channels on Telegram⁠ where the material was allegedly being offered for sale.

Responding to the allegations, a Meta spokesperson said the company maintained a strict policy against such content.

“We use advanced AI technology to proactively detect violating content and individuals, but we are in a constant battle with criminals who hide among our 3.5 billion users and try to evade our detection,” the spokesperson said.

Meta also said that “child exploitation is a horrific crime” and insisted it works aggressively to combat such activity across its platforms.

The company rejected suggestions that it knowingly targeted users with advertisements featuring children or prioritised revenue generation over user safety, describing such claims as “categorially inaccurate.” (Arise News)

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