CNBC-TV18 reached out to a Meta spokesperson who did not confirm or deny the summons.
The summons from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) have reportedly stemmed from a BBC Investigation that found Instagram has been running paid advertisements promoting CSAM in India. The ads used terms such as “rape video” and “child video” and directed users to the messaging app Telegram’s channels, where they could buy the material for Rs 99.
Subsequently, news reports citing sources say that Union IT minister Aishwini Vaishnaw told officials to seek an explanation from Meta over the issue.
“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 Meta spokesperson said in response to a CNBC-TV18 email eliciting the company’s comments.
Instagram ads are published only after they are first approved by its moderation technology, and Meta reportedly told the BBC that the ads in question did not violate the platform’s “community guidelines”.
(Edited by : Sri Ram Iyer)
