The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has issued a notice to Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, seeking an explanation over allegations that its platforms facilitated the promotion of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and child pornography, following a BBC Eye investigation.
According to The Hindu, the Ministry has directed Instagram to disable advertisements linked to such content and has asked Meta to submit a detailed report on the action taken, along with other relevant information, within seven days. “The Ministry has ordered Instagram to disable such advertisements. The government has also demanded a detailed explanation on the action taken and other relevant information within seven days. A notice in this regard was issued on Saturday,” The Hindu quoted a source as saying.
BBC Eye recently published an investigation showing that Instagram was allowing paid advertisements that promote child sexual abuse material, in India. According to the report, these advertisements directed users to Telegram channels where sexually explicit content involving children was being sold.
The investigation found that videos containing CSAM were being amplified by Meta’s recommendation algorithm, while advertisements promoting child pornography remained available on Facebook and Instagram despite the company’s advertising policies prohibiting nudity, sexual content and material that violates its community standards.
BBC journalist Divya Arya reported that such content was being actively promoted on Instagram with inadequate safeguards in place. Most of the advertisements allegedly contained links to Telegram channels hosting sexually explicit content involving children.
Responding to the allegations, a Meta spokesperson referred to an earlier statement issued after the BBC report was published. The company said it has a “zero tolerance policy for soliciting or sharing CSEAM” and that it deploys technology to detect and remove such content. However, it added that it was engaged in a “constant battle with criminals who hide among 3.5 billion users and try to evade detection.”
The BBC also spoke to Brian Boland, a former Facebook vice president who has since become a whistleblower. Boland said he was both “horrified and unsurprised” by the findings, alleging that Meta’s advertising algorithm prioritises engagement and revenue over user safety.
“Because they are not responsibly guiding and controlling the algorithm and it is just pursuing the goals of revenue and clicks, it will create these outcomes if people are not being truly aggressively protective over these systems,” he told the BBC.
Boland described Meta’s advertising system as an “absolutely careless machine” and criticised the company’s growing reliance on automated systems to review advertisements. He said most ads are approved through a fully automated review process, which he argued has weakened oversight.
He further alleged that decisions on the extent of monitoring and controls over advertisement reviews could not have been made without the knowledge of Meta’s senior leadership.
“It is hard to say exactly who is responsible. But you don’t get major decisions made without the most senior people – Adam Mosseri at Instagram or Mark Zuckerberg at Meta – knowing about it,” Boland alleged. “The company has dramatically underinvested in keeping people safe.”
The BBC said it also contacted cybercrime officials in India and sought responses from senior Meta executives as part of its investigation.