Government issues notice to Meta over alleged child sexual abuse ads on Instagram

Notice has been issued over paid ads on Instagram. REPRESENTATION PIC

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.

Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg

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. MeitY has also demanded a detailed explanation within seven 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.

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