Never want child abuse content on our platforms: Meta

In a statement, the social media giant said several of the advertisements and advertiser accounts at the centre of the controversy had already been detected and disabled

by e4m Staff
Published: Jul 8, 2026 2:49 PM | 4 min read

Meta has denied allegations that its advertising systems on Instagram in India knowingly facilitated advertisements promoting child sexual abuse material (CSAM), asserting a commitment to combating child exploitation with a zero-tolerance policy.
The company stated that its enforcement systems had already detected and disabled several problematic advertisements and accounts before the issue was publicly raised, and it has since removed additional content and accounts related to the controversy.
Meta highlighted its extensive enforcement efforts, reporting the removal of over 36 million pieces of child exploitation content globally in the past year and the automatic removal of more than 4 million suspicious accounts across its platforms.
The ongoing legal proceedings in India raise questions about the responsibility of digital platforms for paid advertisements, with potential implications for advertising oversight and child safety measures in the digital landscape.

Meta has responded to allegations that advertisements promoting child sexual abuse material (CSAM) appeared on Instagram in India, rejecting suggestions that its advertising systems knowingly facilitated or targeted such content and outlining the scale of its enforcement efforts against online child exploitation.

The response comes amid legal proceedings in India over reports that Instagram carried advertisements linked to child sexual abuse material and that the platform's advertising systems allegedly enabled their distribution. The case has raised broader questions about the responsibility of digital platforms in screening paid advertisements, the effectiveness of algorithmic moderation, and whether existing safeguards are adequate to prevent criminal misuse of online advertising infrastructure.

In a statement, Meta said child exploitation remains one of the gravest forms of abuse it confronts and stressed that it has a "zero-tolerance" policy towards such content. "We're aware of recent news reports about Instagram ads in India that violated our policies against child exploitation. We never want this content on our platforms and we're committed to improving our efforts to combat it," the company said.

Meta also rejected claims that it deliberately served advertisements featuring children to users based on inappropriate interests. Calling such allegations "categorically inaccurate", the company said its systems are designed to identify suspicious behaviour related to child exploitation rather than promote it.

According to the company statement, several of the advertisements and advertiser accounts at the centre of the controversy had already been detected and disabled by its enforcement systems before the issue was flagged publicly. A subsequent internal investigation resulted in additional advertisements being removed, advertiser accounts being disabled and URLs associated with policy-violating content being blocked.

The company acknowledged, however, that no moderation system is infallible. It said that while automated technologies and human reviewers scrutinise advertisements before they are approved, criminals continually attempt to evade detection by exploiting digital platforms.

To reinforce its position, Meta disclosed fresh figures highlighting the scale of its enforcement operations. The company said it automatically removed more than 4 million suspicious accounts globally across Facebook and Instagram last year that exhibited potentially suspicious activity involving children. During the same period, it removed over 36 million pieces of content related to child exploitation from its platforms.

The company further said that between October and December 2025, it removed nearly 13 million pieces of child sexual exploitation content, with more than 96% detected proactively before users reported them. In India, the company said advanced AI systems that identify suspicious off-platform links and behavioural signals led to the removal of 160,000 accounts over the past six months.

The company added that its content enforcement capabilities have expanded significantly through AI, with moderation systems now supporting languages spoken by approximately 98% of internet users, compared with around 80% previously. Operating across a user base of nearly 3.5 billion people, Meta said it remains in what it described as "a constant battle" with offenders seeking new ways to exploit online services.

Meta also highlighted its compliance with Indian regulations, saying reports of apparent child sexual exploitation are routed through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and forwarded to India's National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal in accordance with the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) framework. It also pointed to its periodic Community Standards Enforcement Reports and India transparency reports published under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

Beyond its own platforms, Meta said it continues to collaborate with the wider technology industry through initiatives such as Lantern, a cross-platform intelligence-sharing programme under the Tech Coalition. According to the company statement, more than two million signals relating to predatory activity had been shared through the initiative by the end of 2025, contributing to over 350,000 enforcement actions across participating platforms.

The controversy arrives at a time when regulators across jurisdictions are increasingly examining whether platform accountability should extend beyond user-generated content to include paid advertising distributed through automated systems. As the matter proceeds through the Indian legal system, the outcome could have significant implications for how digital platforms strengthen advertising oversight, algorithmic accountability and child safety measures in one of their largest markets.