The government has issued a stern notice to Meta on Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM) in paid advertisements on Instagram, sources said on Sunday. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued the notice on Saturday evening.

“MeitY has ordered Instagram to disable all ads and content promoting and facilitating access to CSEAM...it has demanded a detailed explanation within seven days,” sources said.

The decision came a day after Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw directed MeitY officials to summon Meta over Instagram ads allegedly promoting CSEAM.

The latest action from the Ministry comes amid a BBC report that alleged Meta’s recommendation algorithm had been promoting videos containing child sexual abuse material, exposing serious gaps in the safeguards.

The BBC investigation had also allegedly found advertisements of this nature appearing on Facebook and Instagram, despite Meta’s advertising policies explicitly prohibiting nudity and sexually explicit content.

The California-headquartered Meta owns popular social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, with maximum users in India, from teenagers to older individuals. Facebook has more than 700 million users, Instagram has more than 550 million users, and WhatsApp has the largest user base in India with more than 850 million users.

As per the BBC reports, Instagram is alleged to have shown paid advertisements with terms like ‘rape video’ and ‘child video’, which directed users to Telegram channels where such content was reportedly on sale.

According to sources, the government is expected to seek answers on how such advertisements were even approved, what corrective measures Meta has taken since the allegations surfaced, and what safeguards it plans to put in place to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Even as an intermediary, Meta cannot hide behind the ‘third-party content’ argument or defence if allegations involve paid ads promoting child sexual abuse material, the sources said. “If the allegations are found to be true, they will be held accountable for the advertisements, for which the platform receives revenue,” said one of the sources.

According to N S Nappinai, Senior Advocate at Supreme Court and founder of Cyber Saathi, MeitY’s move seeking curbing of CSEAM dissemination through paid ads is a welcome move.

“Where control can be exercised to curb such dissemination, it ought to be done and Meta ought to take it up proactively too. MeitY needs to take its move further to curb dissemination of adult ads in content such as games which otherwise targets minors,” Nappinai told businessline.

While MeitY will review the technical and regulatory aspects of the matter, any agency, authority, or individual may file a complaint against the advertiser or platform if they believe offences under the law have been committed, sources added.

Meanwhile, Meta in a statement said that it 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 defences, develop new technology to root out predators, block links to violating websites, and share intelligence with other companies so they can take action too,” a Meta spokesperson said.

Published on July 5, 2026