NCPCR Summons Meta Over Child Abuse Material Ads on Instagram

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) summoned Meta officials for a hearing as part of its inquiry into child sexual exploitation and abuse material (CSEAM) on Instagram. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has separately sought answers from the company on the same issue.

What triggered the inquiry

In July, a BBC investigation reported that it had encountered dozens of advertisements promoting CSEAM on Instagram using a test account. Such material is banned worldwide and carries strict criminal penalties.

Meta said its enforcement systems had already identified and disabled several of the violating ads and the accounts behind them before the cases were flagged to it. The company said it automatically removes millions of accounts posting child sexual abuse material each year, while acknowledging that no system is perfect and that determined criminals will keep trying to exploit its platforms.

This month, the Tech Transparency Project reported finding hundreds of CSAM ads on Facebook and Instagram, some of which were served to users in India.

Why the ads keep appearing

Platforms prohibit CSEAM, but automated moderation systems that rely partly on AI to detect unlawful content do not catch every violating submission. The Tech Transparency Project, a US-based nonprofit, said Meta's efforts were insufficient even within the scope of what the company could do. It said that even when Meta removed CSEAM, it tagged the ads as adult sexual content, which may lead to undercounting of child sexual abuse cases.

According to the nonprofit, Meta revised this information for ads it reported but did not stop the flow of child exploitation content through its advertising system, and continued to show such ads to certain audiences. One ad appeared to feature an unidentified underaged European royal, the project said.

Many of these ads were placed by China-based resellers of ad spots on Meta's platforms, who generate billions of dollars in ad revenue. The Tech Transparency Project pointed to a Reuters report indicating that ads passing through this channel were subject to a more relaxed enforcement regime, a channel that earned the platform $18 billion in 2024 and is meant for Chinese firms advertising to overseas customers.

Even when a human reported CSEAM posts, action was not guaranteed. In 57% of the CSAM ads reported to Meta — 73 in number — the company responded that the ad did not violate its Advertising Standards, the nonprofit said.

Government and regulatory response

NCPCR issued a notice on July 3, the day the BBC report was published, seeking an explanation from Meta. MeitY also asked the company for a response.

Shortly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's July 23 video message to Indian youth was briefly removed from Facebook due to an error, MeitY summoned Meta's global public affairs director Joel Kaplan to seek an explanation for the removal. The BBC's reporting was also discussed at that meeting. The summoning came as the government issued a large volume of takedown notices for Instagram posts on the Jantar Mantar protests, with footage of the protests and the subsequent police crackdown spreading widely.

Meta submitted written responses to both MeitY and NCPCR. The commission declined a Right to Information request for a copy of the company's response, stating that disclosure would impede its investigation. After the written reply, Meta officials were summoned by NCPCR this month. Neither side has described what was discussed at the meeting.

NCPCR's powers

Like the National Human Rights Commission, NCPCR derives its authority from its founding law, the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005, which grants it the powers of a civil court under the Criminal Procedure Code, recently replaced by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.

The commission can therefore demand explanations on child safety matters from private organisations and seek reports from law enforcement. Its remit covers children in need of special care and protection, including those in distress, marginalised and disadvantaged children, children in conflict with law, juveniles, children without families and children of prisoners, and it can inquire into complaints about non-implementation of laws meant to protect and develop children.

NCPCR has previously issued notices to firms including Netflix over the show Bombay Begums and to Bourn Vita maker Mondelez over sugar content in its malt powder.