Govt Issues Stern Notice to Meta on Child Sexual abuse Material in Instagram Ads: Sources

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 government issued the notice on Saturday evening, they added.

"MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) has ordered Instagram to disable all ads and content promoting and facilitating access to CSEAM," the sources said.

The development came a day after IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw directed MeitY officials to summon Meta over Instagram ads allegedly promoting child sexual abuse material.

The ministry has demanded an explanation and information on action taken in its notice to Meta over child sexual abuse material advertisement allegations, government sources said.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has also demanded a detailed explanation within 7 days.

The Menlo Park, California-headquartered technology giant Meta owns popular social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

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.

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 a person privy to the development, 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 can't hide behind the 'third-party content' argument or defence if allegations involve paid ads promoting child sexual abuse material, sources said.

"If the allegations are found to be true, they will be held accountable for the advertisements, for which the platform receives revenue," one of the sources said.

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 pointed out.

The Indian government has maintained a zero-tolerance approach towards CSEAM, requiring online platforms to promptly detect, remove and report such content while strengthening safeguards to protect children in the digital ecosystem.

The government has, from time to time, also blocked websites containing child sexual abuse material (CSAM), based on lists from Interpol received through the Central Bureau of Investigation, India's national nodal agency for Interpol.

Authorities have repeatedly warned technology companies that any failure to crack down on CSAM and other harmful content could invite regulatory scrutiny and legal action.

Meta has come under regulatory glare for the second time this week.

On Wednesday, the Centre issued a notice to Meta questioning the planned username feature on WhatsApp, citing concerns that it could materially increase online fraud, phishing, digital arrest scams, and impersonation attacks.

It directed the platform to pause the feature until consultations on the issue are completed "to the satisfaction of the Government".

Sources said that WhatsApp will defer the rollout of the username feature.

Meanwhile, a team from Meta met officials in the IT Ministry following the notice summoning them over the contentious feature on WhatsApp.

Given that the timeline for furnishing a detailed explanation on the 'usernames' feature is three days, Meta will submit its final reply as per the schedule, they added.

The Centre had asked Meta to explain why action shouldn't be initiated under the IT Act and rules over WhatsApp's new feature that may increase cybercrimes.

The government also reminded Meta that WhatsApp, as a significant social media intermediary, is bound by due diligence obligations under the IT Act and rules.