Indian government on Sunday (Jul 5) issued a stern notice to Meta, directing it to immediately remove all advertisements and content on Instagram that promotes ot facilitates access to Child Sexual Exploitative & Abuse Material (CSEAM). The Centre has also demanded a detailed explanation from the company within seven days, new agency ANI reported, citing sources. This comes a day after IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw directed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to summon Meta over the matter.
The ministry has demanded Meta to immediately pull down all paid ads on Instagram linked to CSEAM. Officials have also asked the company to act fast to stop anything like this from slipping through again.
Meta has been given a week to respond with a full explanation of how this happened and what it plans to change. Officials said the concern comes from reports that some paid ads were allegedly being used to push users toward external websites hosting illegal child abuse material.
The Centre has taken a serious view of the issue, especially allegations that Instagram’s systems may have been boosting or spreading such content through algorithmic recommendations. It has directed Meta to act immediately to stop any promotion or circulation of this material.
This comes amid rising concerns about how social media platforms are being misused to spread or enable access to illegal and harmful content, with authorities pushing for stricter safeguards and faster action from tech companies.
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This is the second time this week that Meta officials were summoned by MeitY. Earlier, ANI reported that ministry officials had already met Meta representatives to discuss concerns linked to the government’s notice over WhatsApp’s proposed usernames feature.
What did Meta say?
In an email statement, a Meta spokesperson told WION that they have a “zero tolerance policy” for content and ads relating to CSAM. It added that its teams are constantly working to improve protection on its platform.
“Meta has a zero tolerance policy for soliciting or sharing CSAM, including in ads. 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. That is why our expert teams are constantly working to improve our defenses, develop new technology to root out predators, block links to violating websites, and share intelligence with other companies so they can take action too,” the spokesperson said.
Watch | UK national crime agency & WEF release child safety guidelines
