The Union Government has issued a notice to tech giant Meta on Saturday, ordering it to take down content linked to child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEAM) in paid advertisements cropping up on Instagram, sources reported on Sunday. Notably, Meta also owns the social media platform, Facebook.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Saturday ordered Instagram to remove all such content that facilitated access to the CSEAM and sought a detailed response from it within the upcoming seven days.

Instagram to face action upon non-compliance

Sources said that failure to provide information could result in under the Information Technology (IT) Act and the Protection of Children From Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. The government demanded immediate corrective action against the algorithmic amplification of CSEAM.

The notice comes against the backdrop of a report by media outlet BBC which alleged that Meta’s recommendation algorithm had been promoting videos containing CSEAM, exposing serious lapses in the safeguards. The investigative report by BBC also allegedly found advertisements of this nature appearing on Facebook and Instagram, despite Meta’s advertising policies explicitly prohibiting nudity and sexually explicit content.

Insta ads redirected users to Telegram channels

Allegedly, Instagram showed paid advertisements with terms such as ‘rape video’ and ‘child video,’ which eventually redirected users to Telegram channels propagating such content in lieu of money.

The government asked how such advertisements were even approved, what corrective measures Meta has taken since the allegations surfaced, and what safeguards have been brought in force 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 told news agency PTI. The source said, “If the allegations are found to be true, they will be held accountable for the advertisements, for which the platform receives revenue.”

Meta claims it has zero-tolerance policy against CSEAM

Responding to the queries on the BBC report, a Meta spokesperson in an email response to news agency PTI said the tech giant has a zero-tolerance policy for soliciting or sharing CSEAM, including such ads. He wrote, “We use advanced AI technology to proactively detect violating content and persons, but we are in constant battle with criminals who hide among our 3.5 billion users and try to evade our detection.”

He further informed, “That is why our experts teams are constantly working to improve our defences, develop new technology to root out predators, block links to violating websites, and share intelligence with other companies so that they can take appropriate action too.”

The IT Act, under the Indian Constitution, prescribes stringent punishment for publishing or transmitting electronic content depicting children in sexually explicit acts. Section 67B of the IT Act specifically deals with online child sexual abuse material.