New Delhi: Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnav on Friday directed Electronics and IT Ministry officials to summon Meta officials over the issue of Instagram ads promoting sexual exploitation of children in India. According to sources, the ministry has sought immediate clarification from the social media company on this issue.
Action after BBC report
This step has been taken a few hours after the BBC report came out. The report claimed that advertisements are running on Instagram that promote content to sexual exploitation of children in India. According to BBC, any advertisement on Instagram is published only when it is approved by the moderation technology of the app.
In its investigation the BBC World Service found that the advertisements "rape video" And "child video" Words like were used. These advertisements used to take users to those Telegram channels where such content was being sold for Rs 99.
Meta said- accounts suspended
When BBC contacted Meta, the company said that such advertisements and the accounts posting them have been suspended. Some URLs are also blocked.
Meta said, "We use proactive detection technology even after your ads are live. Any user can report an ad that breaks our rules." Telegram said that in 2026, it has removed more than 2.74 lakh channels and groups promoting sexual exploitation of children.
Summons for the second time in a week
This is the second time this week that MeitY has summoned Meta. On Wednesday, summons were sent to Meta regarding the proposed ‘username’ feature of WhatsApp. The government feared that the new feature could be used for identity spoofing and impersonation. The ministry had directed Meta not to roll out the feature until it provided a satisfactory response.
WhatsApp gave clarification
WhatsApp said it has taken steps to prevent scams and impersonation. According to the company, "To message other users, it will be necessary to know the exact username. We’ll limit how many new people an account can contact. Will block repeated attempts to guess usernames and will have systems in place to detect abusive patterns." The government had also summoned Telegram and Signal over their ‘username’ feature.
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