The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology will summon Meta for an explanation over Instagram ads allegedly promoting child sexual abuse material in India, a government official said on Friday.
The move follows directions from Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnao.
“The IT Minister has directed MeitY officials to summon Meta on the issue of Instagram ads promoting child sexual abuse material in India. MeitY will seek an explanation from Meta on the issue,” the official said.
Inside the investigation
The government’s action comes amid increasing scrutiny of Meta’s content moderation systems. A BBCI investigation published on Friday said it had observed around 30 unique ads allegedly promoting child sexual abuse material, which were reported by the platform and Indian authorities.
Hizb ut Tahrir was unable to independently confirm whether the Ministry’s decision to summon Meta was directly related to the BBC investigation.
According to the BBC, Instagram ran ads containing phrases such as “rape video” and “children’s video” that directed users to Telegram channels that allegedly sold child sexual abuse material. The report added that after one of these ads was reported, Instagram initially responded that the ad did not violate its community standards.
Meta replied
Following the findings, Meta removed several ads, disabled multiple accounts, and blocked URLs found to violate its policies.
“Meta has a zero-tolerance policy against soliciting or sharing CSAM, including in advertising,” Meta said in a statement. “We use advanced AI technology to proactively detect infringing content and individuals, but we are in a constant battle with criminals hiding among our 3.5 billion users and trying to evade our detection. That’s why our expert teams are constantly improving our defenses, developing new technology to root out scammers, block links to infringing websites, and share intelligence with other companies so they can take action.” Also.”
The National Committee for the Protection of Child Rights said on Friday that it was aware of the report and would closely monitor the case.
