Meta Still Runs CSAM Ads in India, Despite Government Order
Warning: This story contains descriptions of abuse
Meta ran hundreds of paid ads with artificial intelligence‑generated child sexual abuse imagery, including several in India, over the past 10 months, a US-based campaigners report says.
The report follows an Indian government order to remove all ads and content promoting child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on Instagram, issued after a BBC Eye investigation that exposed Meta running such adverts in the country.
The Tech Transparency Project (TTP) identified 332 CSAM ads across Facebook and Instagram in the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Australia and India, with 274 found in August alone. Sixty‑four of the total were in India, and 78 ran after the Indian government’s removal order was issued.
TTP notes the adverts used photographs of real children, including a European royal family member, that were manipulated with AI to depict graphic sexual acts. Several of the images were linked to AI “nudify” apps available through Chinese developers.
The parent company, Meta (formerly Facebook), released a statement saying: "We don’t tolerate nudify apps or any kind of child exploitation, whether real or AI-generated…We keep strengthening our detection and enforcement." It also said it reports potential child exploitation to the National Center for Missing and Exposed Children (NCMEC) as required by law.
Despite Meta’s claim that its algorithms block offending ads, the TTP report and the BBC investigation found that many campaigns remained live. TTP was able to report 55 of 84 Indian ads; 43 were dismissed as compliant, 11 were already removed and one was still pending.
Indian authorities are now investigating the matter. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, the National Human Rights Commission and cyber police have opened inquiries. The Supreme Court petition filed by Just Rights for Children seeks compulsory reporting and identification of platforms promoting CSAM.
Meta’s policy states that ads must not contain content that sexually exploits or endangers children. The company emphasised that no system is perfect and that determined criminals keep finding ways to use its advertising channels. It also highlighted that many of the offending ads directed users to apps that could be used to create or view CSAM.
In light of these findings, stakeholders continue to call for stronger regulatory oversight and improved content moderation to protect vulnerable children on social media platforms worldwide.
