TL;DR
India’s IT ministry has ordered Meta to immediately remove Instagram ads and content promoting child sexual exploitation material, giving it seven days to explain how the ads passed review. The order follows a BBC Eye investigation and last week’s summons of Meta executives, and puts the company’s Section 79 safe harbour at risk. Note: TNW already covered the initial summons; this piece is the follow-up beat.
India’s IT ministry has ordered Meta to immediately disable all Instagram advertisements and content promoting child sexual exploitation and abuse material, according to The Week. The company has seven days to explain how the ads were approved and to detail the safeguards it will put in place.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology also demanded corrective action against what it called the algorithmic amplification of such material, the Tribune reported. The order escalates a row that began when the ministry summoned Meta executives last week.
The trigger was a BBC Eye investigation published on 3 July. A test account in India was reportedly served around 30 distinct paid ads using explicit search terms, which redirected users to Telegram channels selling illegal material for as little as INR 99 (about $1).
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Failure to comply could threaten Meta’s safe harbour protection under Section 79 of India’s IT Act, The Federal notes. That shield exempts platforms from liability for user content only while they meet due diligence obligations under the country’s IT Rules.
Indian press reports did not include a response from Meta at the time of writing. The company has previously said it bans content that sexualises children and reports abuse material to authorities.
A global enforcement wave
India is not alone in going after platforms over child safety. The UK’s Ofcom has opened a child safety investigation into Telegram under the Online Safety Act, following probes of X and Grok.
US lawmakers have passed a kids’ online safety package in the House, while advocacy groups have asked the FTC to investigate Roblox over child safety. In Europe, a third of GDPR fines against social platforms already relate to child data protection.
For Meta, the Indian notice carries particular weight because India is its largest market by users. If the BBC’s findings hold, the platform did not merely host the problem, it sold ad space to it.
