Global social media giant Meta is under intense scrutiny in India as its executives appeared before the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) regarding alleged advertisements promoting child sexual exploitative and abuse material on platforms like Instagram and Facebook.
Key Points
- Meta executives appeared before the NCPCR for an inquiry into alleged CSEAM advertisements on its platforms.
- The NCPCR initiated the inquiry after a BBC Eye report highlighted alleged advertisements promoting child sexual exploitative material.
- India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had previously issued a stern notice to Meta, demanding the disabling of such ads on Instagram.
- The BBC investigation reportedly found ads with terms like "rape video" and "child video" directing users to Telegram channels selling such content.
- Regulatory bodies are intensifying scrutiny on social media giants to ensure child safety and prevent the promotion of illegal content.
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.
NCPCR Initiates Inquiry Against Meta
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.
Government and BBC Highlight Concerns
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.
