The company said it had already disabled several of the advertisements and the accounts behind them before the cases were brought to its attention. A subsequent investigation led to the removal of additional advertisements, the disabling of more accounts, and the blocking of URLs associated with the content.
Meta also rejected suggestions that it knowingly targeted advertisements featuring children at users with an inappropriate interest in children.
“It is categorically inaccurate to suggest that we’d knowingly and deliberately target ads featuring children to people based on an inappropriate interest in children,” the company said.
The company added that it automatically removed more than four million accounts globally last year that showed potentially suspicious activity related to children.
What prompted Meta’s response?
Meta’s statement comes after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) summoned company representatives and issued a notice seeking an explanation following a BBC investigation.
According to reports, the investigation found that Instagram carried paid advertisements promoting child sexual abuse material in India. The advertisements reportedly used search terms such as “rape video” and “child video” and redirected users to Telegram channels where the material was allegedly being sold for ₹99.
The ministry has sought details on how the advertisements cleared Meta’s review process and what safeguards the company has in place to approve paid content.
Also read: Instagram child safety controversy explained: What happened and why it matters
Ad review and enforcement
Meta said advertisements undergo both automated and manual review before publication and remain subject to review even after they go live. The company added that it also reviews advertisers’ business accounts and may restrict them if they violate its advertising policies or community standards.
The company reiterated that its policies prohibit child sexual exploitation, abuse and nudity, including advertisements containing such content.
Meta said that over the past six months, its detection systems led to the removal of 160,000 accounts in India for posting suspicious off-platform links associated with child exploitation. It added that it reports apparent child exploitation to law enforcement through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), with reports relating to India routed to the national cybercrime reporting portal in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
