India has ordered Meta to immediately remove Instagram advertisements promoting child sexual abuse material after a BBC investigation exposed paid ads linking users to illegal content, with authorities demanding answers within seven days.
The Indian government has ordered Meta to immediately remove advertisements and content on Instagram that promote or facilitate child sexual abuse material (CSAM), following revelations from a BBC Eye investigation.
A senior official in India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said the government had also demanded an explanation from the company within seven days over how such advertisements were allowed to appear on the platform.
“The government has issued a stern notice to Meta over child sexual exploitative and abuse material appearing in paid advertisements on Instagram,” the official told the BBC.
“The government has ordered Instagram to disable all ads and content promoting or facilitating access” to such material, the official added.
The move comes after a BBC Eye investigation found that Instagram displayed paid advertisements promoting child sexual abuse material in India. Some of the adverts directed users to Telegram channels where the illegal content was allegedly being sold.
The investigation involved a newly created Instagram account in India that had not searched for explicit content. After following 10 sexually suggestive accounts, the profile began receiving paid adverts featuring adult pornography.
Within days, Instagram also showed advertisements promoting child sexual abuse material, with some containing links to Telegram channels.
Responding to the government’s action, Meta said it has a zero-tolerance policy against child sexual abuse material and continues to strengthen its safety systems.
“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,” a Meta spokesperson said.
The company also said it does not knowingly allow such content on its platforms.
In an earlier response to the BBC investigation, Meta described child exploitation as “a horrific crime” and rejected claims that it deliberately targeted users with advertisements featuring children or prioritised profits over user safety.
Telegram also responded to the findings, saying it had removed more than 274,000 groups and channels linked to child sexual abuse material in 2026.
Neither the Indian government nor Meta confirmed whether the latest notice was issued directly because of the BBC investigation, although it came just days after the report was published.
The government’s action adds pressure on social media companies to strengthen safeguards against the spread of child sexual abuse material and improve the monitoring of paid advertisements on their platforms.
