In brief
A US‑based research group, Tech Transparency Project, uncovered 332 ads containing child sexual abuse imagery on Meta’s Facebook and Instagram over the last ten months, 84 of which appeared in India after the country’s mandated ban. The ads used real child photos that were artificially manipulated to depict sexual acts, often linking to AI‑generation or messaging apps that may facilitate the sale of illegal content. Meta’s spokesperson denied deliberate wrongdoing, citing ongoing monitoring and automated defenses, but reports of the ads resurfacing raise questions about enforcement efficacy. Indian authorities, including child‑rights bodies and the Supreme Court, are pressing Meta for mandatory reporting and stricter custody of abusive content. The case highlights the complexities of policing child exploitation across global social‑media platforms and the urgent need for tighter regulation.
Tech Transparency Project, a research arm of the Campaign for Accountability, found 332 paid ads on Facebook and Instagram that included child sexual abuse material (CSAM) over a ten‑month period. 274 of those ads ran in August this year, a majority of which were in India, and 84 were published after the Indian government’s order to remove all CSAM content from the platform.
The US‑based watchdog said the ads began with real photos of children, including a member of a European royal family, which were then manipulated with artificial intelligence to illustrate graphic sexual acts. The majority of the ads redirected viewers to AI‑generation apps—mostly from Chinese developers—or to messaging services where the material could be purchased.
When the BBC reported its findings, Meta said it had started to remove the offending ads and had taken a “strong‑defense” approach, citing its automated screening system. However, Meta’s own reporting system only disables ads that are live, and many of the 55 of the 84 ads that were reported in India remained online until after the investigators’ release.
Indian authorities, including the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, the National Human Rights Commission, and the Supreme Court, are reviewing the situation and pushing Meta for mandatory reporting of CSAM. Bhuwan Ribhu of Just Rights for Children has filed a petition demanding that social‑media platforms identify and report anyone who promotes such content.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) remains the global reporting hub for child‑exploitation web content, and Meta states it forwards all complaints to NCMEC. Despite that, the Tech Transparency Project argues the reporting pipeline is ineffective because the ads that led to illegal content sales often make a brief appearance before being taken down.
Shikha Goel, senior director at the Telangana State Cyber Security Bureau, notes that the ease with which users move between platforms hampers enforcement. The current Master Drive system on Meta’s platforms relies heavily on automation; while effective at flagging obvious violations, it struggles with the evolving techniques used by offenders.
In light of these findings, the growing concern about how tech firms handle CSAM, and the implications for Indian and other national law‑enforcement agencies, the case underscores the urgent need for more decisive action and tighter regulatory frameworks for global social‑media networks.
