India Calls Out Meta Over Reported Child Sexual Abuse Imagery in Ads

India has demanded that Instagram remove advertisements promoting child sexual abuse imagery, state-owned media reported this weekend, following accusations that the popular social media platform had facilitated the spread of illegal content exploiting children.

India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued a “stern notice” on Saturday to Meta, the tech giant that owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, according to the Indian state television broadcaster, DD News.

The notice demanded that “all advertisements and content that promote or facilitate access” to child sexual abuse material be taken down immediately and that Meta offer a detailed explanation within seven days, DD News said in a social media post.

Representatives for India’s technology ministry, the government agency that monitors the internet, contacted after working hours, could not be reached for comment.

In a statement, a spokesman for Meta said the company had a “zero tolerance policy” for child sexual abuse imagery. It said it was “having constructive conversations” with India’s technology ministry on the issue, without offering further details about specific ads or content related to India’s demand.

“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,” Meta’s statement said.

India’s demands come at a time when countries around the world are trying to extend greater protections to underage internet users, by suing tech companies and passing laws that set age limits on social media.

A recent BBC investigation discovered at least 30 advertisements on Instagram in India with links leading to child sexual abuse imagery available on the separate and unrelated messaging app, Telegram.

The report described one ad showing a middle-aged man with his arm around a young girl, with an external link to “watch more.” Another ad showed children “engaging in a sexual act,” the outlet said.

The BBC investigation’s findings could not be independently verified.

In the past six months, Meta said, the company has removed 160,000 accounts in India that were suspected of containing links to illegal content related to children.

Telegram, a Dubai-based company, said in a statement that so far this year, it has removed more than 293,000 groups and channels that violated its rules on child exploitation.

“The fact that abusers must depend on evasion tactics like using other platforms to lead people to their groups is testimony to the effectiveness of Telegram’s moderation,” the company said.

Meta has come under growing scrutiny in the United States for its policies on teenagers and younger children. In March, a state court in New Mexico ordered the company to pay $375 million in damages after a jury found that it had misled users about the safety of its platforms and enabled the sexual exploitation of young users. Meta defended its safety policies and said it would appeal that decision.

As part of broader concerns about children’s online lives, calls to place age restrictions on social media access have proliferated in recent years. A long list of nations — including Britain, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Brazil, and several members of the European Union — have taken steps recently to put restrictions or bans on social media for young people.