availability and promotion of child sexual exploitation material
through online platforms.
Meta India Executives Appear Before Rights Body In Child Abuse Ad
ProbeMeta submitted its response to the commission a week later.
New Delhi: Senior executives of global social media giant Meta, which
runs Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, appeared before the child
rights body NCPCR on Wednesday in connection with its inquiry into
alleged advertisements related to child sexual exploitative and abuse
material (CSEAM) on the platform.
Details about the questioning were not immediately available.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) had on
July 3 taken suo motu cognisance of a media report by BBC Eye
regarding alleged advertisements related to CSEAM and sought an
explanation from Meta Platforms, Inc.
Meta submitted its response to the commission a week later.
NCPCR subsequently decided to institute an inquiry to determine the
facts of the matter and in continuation of the same, summoned the MD
and Head of Meta India to appear before it on Wednesday, officials
said.
The commission's move comes amid concerns over the alleged
availability and promotion of child sexual exploitation material
through online platforms.
In July, the government issued a stern notice to Meta on CSEAM in paid
advertisements on Instagram.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had
ordered Instagram to disable all ads and content promoting and
facilitating access to CSEAM and also demanded a detailed explanation
on it.
The action came after IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw directed MeitY
officials to summon Meta over Instagram ads allegedly promoting child
sexual abuse material.
The regulatory scrutiny from the ministry came amid a BBC report that
alleged Meta's recommendation algorithm had been promoting videos
containing child sexual abuse material, exposing serious gaps in the
safeguards.
The BBC investigation had also allegedly found advertisements of this
nature appearing on Facebook and Instagram, despite Meta's advertising
policies explicitly prohibiting nudity and sexually explicit content.
Instagram is alleged to have shown paid advertisements with terms like
"rape video" and "child video", which directed users to Telegram
channels where such content was reportedly on sale.
