Govt orders Meta to remove child abuse on Instagram, seeks reply in 7 days

Published 5 July 2026 · tech

The Central government has issued a stern notice to Meta over the alleged presence of Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM) in paid on

The Central government has issued a stern notice to Meta over the alleged presence of Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM) in paid on Instagram, sources said. According to sources, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has directed Instagram to immediately disable all and content that promote or facilitate access to CSEAM on its platform. The government has also sought a detailed explanation from Meta, asking the company to respond within seven days. Read Full Story The action comes as part of the Centre's crackdown on the circulation and promotion of child sexual abuse material online, with authorities seeking stricter compliance from digital platforms. BBC INVESTIGATION TRIGGERED SCRUTINY The government's action follows a BBC Eye investigation that found Instagram displaying paid containing terms such as "rape video" and "child video", which allegedly redirected users to Telegram channels where child sexual abuse material could be purchased for as little as Rs 99.

According to the investigation, the had passed Instagram's moderation process before appearing on the platform. TEST ACCOUNT RECEIVED ILLEGAL The BBC said it created an alias Instagram account in India after observing that the platform recommended sexually suggestive content even without users actively searching for it. The account followed 10 profiles posting sexually suggestive content to study Instagram's recommendation system. Within a week, it began receiving offering video calls and explicit sexual content. Days later, the account was shown depicting children with adults in sexually suggestive situations, along with links to Telegram channels. The investigation found around 30 unique allegedly promoting child sexual abuse material, some appearing through multiple accounts, in addition to about 20 featuring adult pornography. DISTURBING CONTENT IDENTIFIED According to the BBC, one showed a boy and a girl, appearing to be around 12 years old, engaged in a sexual act.

Another featured a man claiming to be 52 years old alongside a girl described as 12, urging users to click through to Telegram. The investigation also reported an showing a young girl in tears with text suggesting she had been sexually assaulted. The BBC said Instagram initially responded that one such did not violate its community standards, despite the reported content. META REMOVES ACCOUNTS AFTER QUERIES Following questions from the BBC, Meta said it had already disabled several and suspended the accounts responsible. The company said it subsequently removed additional, disabled more accounts and blocked URLs linked to content violating its policies. Meta acknowledged that "no system is perfect" and said its review process may fail to detect every policy violation. The company added that it continues to use proactive detection technology even after go live and allows users to report content that violates its policies.