The Central government has directed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to summon Meta and seek an explanation over allegations that Instagram displayed paid advertisements promoting child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The action follows reports that such advertisements appeared on the platform and allegedly directed users to external channels where illegal content was being sold.
Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw instructed ministry officials to take up the matter with Meta, signalling a strong regulatory response to concerns over the platform’s content moderation practices. Government officials are expected to ask the company how such advertisements were allowed to run and what safeguards it has in place to prevent similar incidents in the future.
The move comes after a media investigation alleged that Instagram approved advertisements containing explicit terms related to child sexual abuse and linked users to external messaging platforms where such content was reportedly offered for sale. Following the report, Meta said it removed the flagged advertisements, disabled associated accounts and blocked the relevant URLs, while maintaining that it does not knowingly allow such content on its platforms and that no moderation system is perfect.
This is the second regulatory action initiated by the Indian government against Meta within a week. Earlier, MeitY had asked the company to pause the rollout of WhatsApp’s proposed username feature in India and seek approval before proceeding, reflecting heightened scrutiny of the tech giant’s services.
