The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) will summon officials of Meta after a BBC investigation found that Instagram was running paid advertisements promoting child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in India. Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, according to a post by ANI, has directed ministry officials to seek an explanation from the social media giant.
This is the second instance this week in which the Centre has taken action against Meta. The government initially issued a notice to WhatsApp over its username feature, followed by Signal, Telegram and Arattai, citing concerns that it could increase online fraud, phishing, digital arrest scams, and impersonation.
BBC’s investigation behind the MeitY summons: The government’s action follows Divya Arya’s BBC investigation, which found that Instagram was running paid ads that promoted CSAM and linked users to Telegram channels selling the material. The investigation was published on July 3, 2026, and hours later, the Indian government said it had summoned Meta’s representatives over the findings.
Read BBC’s original reporting here: [ Original link | Archived link ]
What The BBC Investigation Revealed: The ads used terms such as “rape video” and “child video,” and directed users to Telegram channels where the material could reportedly be purchased for as little as Rs 99. Key findings from the investigation include:
- Scale of the sexualised ads: The platform served about 30 unique ads promoting child sexual abuse to the test account, though it shared some ads across multiple accounts. It also showed the same account that BBC used for testing around 20 ads for explicit adult pornography
- Instagram serving sexual content even if the user doesn’t search for it: BBC journalists set up an alias Instagram account in India after noticing the platform was pushing sexually suggestive content even without the user searching for it.
- Meta’s algorithm shows CSAM-related ads after engaging with sexual or sensual content: The account began following 10 women who posted about food, weather and daily life in India while also appearing in provocative clothing and using sexual innuendo, to observe what the algorithm would show next. Within a week, Instagram began showing ads featuring women offering video calls and explicit couples.
A few days later, the account started receiving ads depicting children with adults in sexually suggestive situations, with links out to Telegram channels. Some of these ads directed users to Telegram channels.
Meta said the content didn’t violate its community standards: When the BBC reported one such sexually suggestive ad through Instagram’s own reporting tool, the platform responded 24 hours later, stating that its review team had found the ad “does not go against our community standards.”
It was only after the BBC approached Meta directly for official comment that the company disabled several of the…
Source link
Disclaimer
We strive to uphold the highest ethical standards in all of our reporting and coverage. We blogs.grocliq.com want to be transparent with our readers about any potential conflicts of interest that may arise in our work. It’s possible that some of the investors we feature may have connections to other businesses, including competitors or companies we write about. However, we want to assure our readers that this will not have any impact on the integrity or impartiality of our reporting. We are committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news and information to our audience, and we will continue to uphold our ethics and principles in all of our work. Thank you for your trust and support.
Website Upgradation is going on for any glitch kindly connect at [email protected]
