'Stop the ads immediately': Centre's stern warning to Meta over child abuse content

NEW DELHI: The Centre has directed Meta to immediately disable all Instagram advertisements and content that promote or facilitate access to Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM), while issuing a stern notice to the company over the alleged presence of such content in paid advertisements on the platform.According to sources, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has ordered Instagram to remove all paid ads and related content linked to CSEAM and has sought immediate corrective action.The government has also given Meta seven days to submit a detailed explanation on the issue.Sources said the paid advertisements on Instagram were allegedly being used to direct users to external platforms hosting unlawful child sexual abuse material.The Centre is treating the matter with utmost seriousness, particularly the alleged "algorithmic amplification" of sexually exploitative content through the platform. It has directed Meta to take immediate steps to prevent the promotion and dissemination of such material.The notice comes amid growing concerns over the misuse of social media platforms to distribute and facilitate access to illegal child sexual abuse content.“Meta 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 defenses, develop new technology to root out predators, block links to violating websites, and share intelligence with other companies so they can take action too," said Meta's spokesperson.