Why the Indian Government Is Summoning Meta Over Instagram Ads

The government is now stepping in directly after a BBC investigation flagged how Instagram ads in India were reportedly pushing child sexual abuse material and even directing users to Telegram channels where such illegal content could be bought for as little as ₹99.

IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has directed MeitY officials to summon Meta over Instagram ads allegedly promoting child sexual abuse material, PTI reported.

On Friday, a senior official confirmed that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has been told to summon Meta and demand answers. The order came straight from IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw himself.

"IT minister has directed MeitY officials to summon Meta on the matter of Instagram ads promoting child sexual abuse material in India. MeitY will seek an explanation from Meta on the issue," Hindustan Times quoted an unnamed official as saying.

The BBC investigation had pointed out that some ads carried images of children in sexually explicit situations, and instead of being taken down, they were reportedly allowed to stay up. When the broadcaster flagged one such ad to Instagram, the platform reportedly said it didn't violate its community standards. The report also found similar ads running on Facebook, even though Meta's own policies clearly ban nudity and sexual content.

According to PTI report, Instagram is alleged to have shown paid advertisements with terms such as 'rape video' and 'child video'. The text directed users to land on Telegram channels where such content was reportedly on sale.

"If the allegations are found to be true, they will be held accountable for the advertisements, for which the platform receives revenue," a source told the news agency.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh-based activist Amitabh Thakur, who heads the Azad Adhikar Sena, has written to the cabinet secretary pushing for a multi-agency probe into the matter.

This isn't the only headache for Meta this week.

META CANT BE ALLOWED TO DO THIS!

An insta ad shows a 7 yr old girl crying & the caption says "she has been unboxed with a big weapon".

It is OUTRAGEOUS that Meta allows such child abuse ads.

Our govt and Supreme Court need to hold Meta accountable.

An investigation by BBC. pic.twitter.com/r5WxnyQKyc

— Kaushik Raj (@kaushikrj6) July 3, 2026

Just two days earlier, the government had sent a notice to the company over its planned "username" feature on WhatsApp, warning that it could open the door to more fraud, phishing, digital arrest scams, and impersonation. The Centre had asked Meta to hit pause on the rollout until consultations were done-and made it clear that they weren't just asking nicely.

On the other hand, a spokesperson California-headquartered technology giant claimed in an email response that the has a zero-tolerance policy for soliciting or sharing CSAM, including in ads.

"We use advanced AI technology to proactively detect violating content and individuals, but we are in a constant battle with criminals who hide among our 3.5 billion users and try to evade our detection.

"That is why our expert 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 they can take action too," the Meta spokesperson added.

The Information Technology (IT) Act lays down strict penalties for publishing or sharing electronic content that depicts children in sexually explicit acts. Section 67B of the Act specifically deals with online child sexual abuse material (CSAM), making a wide range of activities involving such content a criminal offence.

Under the law, creating, publishing, transmitting, downloading, storing or distributing child sexual abuse material in electronic form is prohibited and punishable.

The IT Rules also place responsibility on intermediaries, including social media platforms, to take appropriate steps to prevent the spread of such content. Platforms that fail to meet these due diligence requirements risk losing their safe harbour protection, which shields them from liability for third-party content hosted on their services.

With inputs from agencies