Meta takes down child exploitation ads after govt notice, denies targeting users

Meta Platforms said on Tuesday it had removed advertisements and disabled accounts that violated its policies on child sexual exploitation after the government raised concerns over such content appearing on Instagram.

The company also denied claims that it knowingly targeted the advertisements to users based on an inappropriate interest in children.

Meta issued the statement in a blog post days after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) directed the company to immediately disable advertisements and content promoting or facilitating child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

The government action followed a BBC Eye investigation that found Instagram was running paid advertisements in India promoting child sexual abuse material.

Some of the ads linked users to Telegram channels where such material was allegedly offered for sale.

"We're aware of recent news reports about Instagram ads in India that violated our policies against child exploitation," Meta said.

"We want to be clear: we take these concerns seriously, we never want this content on our platforms, and we're committed to improving our efforts to combat it," it added.

Meta said its enforcement systems had already identified and disabled several violating advertisements and the accounts behind them before the cases were brought to its attention.

A subsequent investigation led to further action, including removing more advertisements, disabling additional accounts and blocking URLs linked to policy-violating content, it said.

The company rejected suggestions that it deliberately served such advertisements to users with a sexual 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," Meta said.

"Quite the opposite; we use technology to identify accounts that have shown potentially suspicious activity related to children, and we automatically removed over 4 million of these accounts last year."

Meta, however, acknowledged that its review systems were not foolproof.

"We recognise that no system is perfect and that determined criminals will continue to try to exploit our platform, including through our advertising systems," it said.

The company said advertisements are reviewed through automated systems and manual checks before they run. They remain subject to review even after publication. Meta said it can also restrict advertisers' business accounts and other assets if they violate its policies.

Meta said it removed more than 36 million pieces of child exploitation content globally last year. It also automatically disabled more than 4 million suspicious accounts on Facebook and Instagram.

In India, advanced detection systems led to the removal of 160,000 accounts in the past six months after identifying suspicious off-platform links and other signals linked to child exploitation, it said.

Meta said it removed 13 million pieces of child sexual exploitation content worldwide between October and December 2025. More than 96% of the content was detected proactively before users reported it.

The company said it reports apparent child exploitation cases to law enforcement through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). In India, such reports are routed by NCMEC to the national cybercrime reporting portal in line with local legal requirements.

"Our teams are constantly improving our defences ... but we know there is more to do," Meta said.

"We will continue investing in every resource needed to keep young people safe, strengthen our ad review processes, and work with law enforcement to hold criminals accountable."