India directs Meta to take down child exploitation ads

The Indian government has directed Meta to immediately disable advertisements and content on Instagram that promote or facilitate child sexual abuse material, a senior official said.

It comes after a BBC Eye investigation found that Instagram has been running paid adverts promoting child sexual abuse material in India, some of which linked users to Telegram channels where the material was offered for sale.

The government has also sought an explanation within a week on how advertisements containing such material were allowed on the platform, the official said.

Meta has said it has a zero-tolerance policy on child sexual abuse material and is continuing to strengthen its detection and defences.

"The government has issued a stern notice to Meta over child sexual exploitative and abuse material appearing in paid advertisements on Instagram," a senior official in India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology told the BBC.

The official further said the federal ministry 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.

On being asked about the government's notice, a Meta spokesperson said the company has "a zero-tolerance policy for soliciting or sharing" child sexual abuse material, including in ads.

"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.

The government notice has been issues days after the BBC Eye Investigation was published.

However, neither the government nor Meta confirmed whether the notice was issued specifically in response to the BBC's film.

The BBC set up a new alias Instagram account in India after noticing the platform was pushing sexually suggestive content even when users had not searched for it.

The account followed 10 such profiles and, in less than a week, Instagram began showing the alias account paid adverts featuring adult pornography.

Days later, it was also shown adverts promoting child sexual abuse material, some of which linked users to Telegram channels.

In its response to the BBC Investigation, Meta had said that "child exploitation is a horrific crime" and that it works aggressively to fight it on its apps.

The company, however, called it "categorially inaccurate" to suggest it knowingly and deliberately targeted ads featuring children to users with an inappropriate interest in such material and denied prioritising revenue over safety."

-BBC