Shafaqna India: At first glance, a recent BBC Eye investigation appears to suggest that India has become the latest hotspot for Instagram advertisements allegedly promoting child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The Indian government has responded swiftly, with the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) preparing to summon Meta after the broadcaster found that Instagram had carried paid advertisements directing users to illegal content.
India is Meta’s single largest market by users. Facebook has more than 375 million users in the country, while Instagram is estimated to have well over 400 million monthly active users, making it the platform’s biggest audience globally. India has also become a key driver of Meta’s advertising business as brands shift spending to digital platforms, even though advertising rates remain lower than in mature markets such as the US and Europe.
The scale of the Indian market also presents unique challenges. Content moderation must contend with dozens of languages, regional dialects and coded expressions that evolve rapidly to evade detection. Researchers and digital rights groups have long argued that global platforms have invested less in moderation for non-English languages than for English, leaving enforcement gaps that can be exploited by bad actors. Meta has said it has expanded its use of artificial intelligence and local-language reviewers, but critics maintain that enforcement remains inconsistent.
But the controversy is better understood as the latest chapter in Meta’s long and troubled history of dealing with child safety on its platforms — one that has repeatedly triggered investigations, lawsuits and regulatory scrutiny across the world.
What makes the India case particularly significant is that the allegations go beyond failures of content moderation. The BBC investigation alleged that Instagram’s advertising system approved and displayed paid advertisements promoting child sexual abuse material, meaning Meta may have earned revenue from the very content its policies prohibit.
According to the broadcaster, the advertisements used coded language and imagery before directing users to Telegram channels where abusive material was allegedly being sold. Meta removed the advertisements and disabled the accounts after being contacted by the BBC, while maintaining that it does not knowingly allow such content and that offenders continually try to evade its detection systems.
The distinction matters. Social media companies have long argued that harmful material uploaded by users inevitably slips through despite billions of dollars being spent on moderation. Advertisements, however, undergo a review process before being published. If regulators conclude that Meta’s advertising systems approved illegal content, the debate could shift from inadequate moderation to questions about platform accountability and monetisation.
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For Meta, this is far from unfamiliar territory. In 2023, an investigation by The Wall Street Journal and researchers at Stanford University’s Internet Observatory found that Instagram had become a major platform for networks involved in child sexual exploitation, with recommendation systems, hashtags and account discovery tools helping users connect with one another. Meta responded by removing hashtags, dismantling networks and establishing a task force to tackle the problem.
The same year, New Mexico attorney-general Raúl Torrez sued Meta after an undercover investigation alleged that Facebook and Instagram exposed minors to sexual predators and facilitated child exploitation. Investigators posing as children reported receiving explicit messages and being connected with adults within days of creating accounts. The lawsuit accused the company of prioritising growth and engagement over child safety.
That litigation reached a major milestone earlier this year when a New Mexico jury found Meta liable for violating state law and ordered the company to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in civil penalties. A second phase of the case, seeking sweeping changes to Meta’s products and safety systems, is continuing.
Meta has also faced scrutiny in Europe. In 2024, the European Commission opened an investigation into whether the company was doing enough to protect children online, while regulators in several countries have questioned the effectiveness of its safeguards for minors.
The India controversy, however, presents a different challenge. Unlike earlier cases centred on user-generated content, the latest allegations involve Meta’s own advertising infrastructure — a system designed to screen and approve advertisements before they reach users. GeographicReference
That distinction explains the Indian government’s swift response. IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has directed MeitY to summon Meta and seek an explanation over how such advertisements were approved and displayed on Instagram in India. The move comes just days after the ministry sought answers from the company over WhatsApp’s proposed usernames feature, reflecting increasing regulatory scrutiny of Meta’s products in the country.
It is too early to conclude that India was uniquely targeted or that the problem is confined to the country. The BBC investigation focused on Instagram advertisements seen in India, but the underlying questions it raises about Meta’s advertising review systems have implications far beyond one market.
If anything, the India episode underscores a broader challenge that has followed Meta for years: whether a platform used by billions can effectively prevent child exploitation while continuing to rely on automated systems to police both user content and paid advertising. The answer may now be tested not only in India but by regulators around the world.
