Vaishnaw asks Meity to summon Meta over Instagram child abuse content

IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has asked MeitY officials to summon Meta over allegations that Instagram carried advertisements promoting child sexual abuse material

Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday directed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) officials to summon Meta over allegations that Instagram advertisements are promoting child sexual abuse content, news agency PTI reported, citing officials. 

The development comes hours after a BBC report said it had identified paid advertisements on Instagram that used terms such as "rape video" and "child video" and redirected users to Telegram channels where such material was allegedly being sold. The report said some content was available for as little as ₹99.

 

According to the report, the advertisements appeared on Instagram despite the platform's ad review process, under which advertisements are approved before publication. The report said that when the BBC reported one of the advertisements, Instagram responded after 24 hours, saying the content did not violate its community guidelines.

   

The report said the BBC created a test account in India after observing that Instagram was recommending sexually suggestive content. Within days, the account was shown advertisements featuring explicit sexual content and, later, advertisements involving children in sexually suggestive situations that linked to Telegram channels.

 

The BBC said it identified around 30 unique advertisements promoting child sexual abuse material, some of which appeared across multiple accounts. It also reported the advertisements and related Telegram channels to Indian authorities.

 

After being approached for comment, Meta told the BBC it had disabled several advertisements and suspended accounts responsible for posting them. The company also said it had removed additional advertisements, blocked URLs and taken action against more accounts that violated its policies.

 

"Child exploitation is a horrific crime and Meta works aggressively to fight it on our apps," the company said in a statement to the BBC. Meta also said it was "categorically inaccurate" to suggest that it knowingly targeted such advertisements to users with an interest in child abuse material.

 

The company told the BBC that "no system is perfect, and our review process may not detect all policy violations". It added that it continues to use detection technology on advertisements after they go live and reports apparent child exploitation cases to the US-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), as required by law.

 

Telegram told the BBC it uses automated tools and human moderation to remove child sexual abuse material and had taken down more than 274,000 groups and channels linked to such content in 2026. The company said it had "virtually eliminated the public spread of CSAM from its platform".

 

On Wednesday, the Centre issued a notice to Meta over WhatsApp's planned username feature, saying it could increase the risk of online fraud, phishing attacks, impersonation and so-called digital arrest scams.

 

The government asked WhatsApp to pause the rollout of the feature until consultations with authorities are completed and directed Meta to explain why action should not be initiated under provisions of the Information Technology Act and related rules.

 

The Centre also reminded Meta that WhatsApp, as a major social media intermediary, is required to comply with due diligence obligations prescribed under India's information technology regulations.