NEW DELHI: Meta ran hundreds of paid advertisements containing or promoting child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on Facebook and Instagram, including dozens in India after authorities ordered the company to remove such content, according to a new report.
The US-based Tech Transparency Project (TTP) identified 332 advertisements featuring CSAM over the past 10 months, with 274 appearing in August alone. Of the total, 84 ads ran in India, including 78 after the Indian government ordered Meta to remove advertisements and content promoting CSAM.
TTP said many of the advertisements used artificial intelligence to manipulate photographs of real children into sexually explicit imagery. Some directed users towards AI image and video-generation applications.
Meta Ads Continued After India Order
The findings follow an earlier BBC investigation into paid Instagram advertisements promoting CSAM in India. Indian agencies, including the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and National Human Rights Commission, subsequently began examining the issue.
TTP said it attempted to report 55 of the 84 advertisements identified in India through Meta’s reporting system.
According to the group, Meta initially responded that 43 did not violate its advertising standards, while 11 had already been removed.
Meta later removed all advertisements reported directly to it by TTP.
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The company said it does not tolerate child exploitation or applications designed to generate sexualised images.
Meta added that many flagged advertisements had already been removed, most received fewer than 200 impressions and total advertising expenditure was below $5,000.
Calls for Stronger Action in India
Bhuwan Ribhu, founder of child-protection network Just Rights for Children, said social media companies should identify and report people promoting CSAM to Indian law-enforcement agencies.
His organisation has petitioned India’s Supreme Court seeking mandatory reporting requirements for social media platforms.
TTP said new advertisements continued appearing after Meta was informed of its findings, including 11 that ran in India on September 1 and 2.
Meta says its advertising review relies primarily on automated systems examining images, videos, text, audio, targeting and destination links.
