The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has issued a notice to Meta over Instagram ads allegedly promoting child sexual abuse material in India, a government official said.
In the notification, the government ordered Instagram to disable all ads and content that promotes or facilitates access to child sexual exploitation and abuse material (CSEAM), the official added.
7 day notice to Meta regarding Instagram ads
The government has given Meta seven days to provide a detailed explanation about the ads that allegedly direct users to third-party platforms hosting child sexual abuse material.
The ministry also said that it views the alleged algorithmic amplification of sexually exploitative content with the utmost seriousness and directed Meta to take immediate corrective action, the government official told HT.
He explained the issue
The government’s move comes as Meta faces increasing scrutiny over its content moderation practices.
A BBCI investigation said it had identified around 30 separate adverts allegedly promoting child sexual abuse material in India. The broadcaster said it had informed Meta and the Indian authorities of the advertisements.
According to a BBC report, Instagram ran ads with phrases like “rape video” and “children’s video,” which allegedly redirected users to Telegram channels selling child sexual abuse material.
The report also stated that after one of these ads was reported, Instagram initially responded that it did not violate the platform’s community standards.
The BBC created a new Instagram account after noticing that the platform was recommending sexually suggestive content even when the user had not searched for such material.
The recommendations included posts by women in India who shared content about food, weather, and their daily lives. Many of the posts included revealing clothing and sexual innuendos, according to the BBC.
A few days later, the account was shown ads showing children with adults in sexually suggestive situations, and the ads included links directing users to Telegram channels, according to the report.
Meta replied
Following the report, Meta removed several ads, disabled multiple accounts, and blocked URLs found to have violated 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.”
