NCPCR summons Meta India chief over alleged child abuse ads

MUMBAI: Meta’s India leadership is being called to answer questions on child safety. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has summoned Meta India’s managing director and head to appear before the child rights body on Wednesday as part of an inquiry into alleged advertisements linked to child sexual exploitation and abuse material (CSEAM), according to reports.

The summons follow NCPCR’s decision to institute an inquiry into the allegations and establish the facts surrounding the reported advertisements.

The commission took suo motu cognisance of the matter on July 3 following a BBC Eye investigation that alleged advertisements related to CSEAM had appeared on Meta’s platforms. NCPCR subsequently sought an explanation from Meta Platforms, which submitted its response a week later.

The commission has now moved to the next stage of its inquiry by calling Meta India’s senior leadership to appear before it, PTI reported.

The development comes amid growing regulatory scrutiny of social media platforms and their ability to detect, prevent and remove child sexual exploitation material.

In July, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued a notice to Meta over alleged CSEAM-related paid advertisements on Instagram. The ministry directed Instagram to disable advertisements and content that promoted or facilitated access to such material and sought a detailed explanation from the company.

The action followed IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s direction to MeitY officials to summon Meta over the alleged advertisements.

The regulatory scrutiny intensified after the BBC investigation alleged that Meta’s recommendation systems had promoted videos containing child sexual abuse material. It also alleged that advertisements related to such material appeared on Facebook and Instagram despite Meta’s advertising policies prohibiting nudity and sexually explicit content.

NCPCR’s inquiry now places Meta India’s senior leadership directly before the child rights regulator as authorities examine the allegations and the effectiveness of the company’s safeguards.

Importantly, NCPCR has not established wrongdoing at this stage. The inquiry is intended to determine the facts surrounding the allegations.

The NCPCR action comes as Meta faces wider regulatory scrutiny in India over content moderation, advertising safeguards and recommendation systems.

Child safety has emerged as a key area of concern. Beyond the alleged CSEAM-related advertisements, regulators are examining whether Meta’s systems are sufficiently proactive in detecting and preventing child sexual exploitation material.

Meta has pointed to the scale of its enforcement systems, saying improvements to its technology helped it automatically remove more than 4 million suspicious accounts from Facebook and Instagram globally last year, along with 36 million pieces of content linked to child exploitation.

In India, Meta said its artificial intelligence systems, which use signals including suspicious off-platform links, resulted in the removal of 160,000 accounts over the past six months.

The company has also said apparent child exploitation cases are reported to law enforcement through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

For India, Meta said NCMEC reports such material to the national cyber-crime reporting portal on the company’s behalf under the applicable Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) framework.

Meta has also cited Lantern, a Tech Coalition initiative through which technology companies share signals associated with potentially predatory accounts and behaviour.

Meta’s India Monthly Report provides a further indication of the scale of its enforcement activity.

In June, Facebook actioned around 6.1 lakh pieces of content under child endangerment involving nudity and physical abuse, along with 1.9 lakh pieces under child sexual exploitation.

Instagram actioned around 5.6 lakh pieces under child endangerment involving nudity and physical abuse and 3.4 lakh pieces under child sexual exploitation.

Meta reported proactive detection rates ranging from 90.9 per cent to 99.7 per cent across these categories. The company has cautioned, however, that country-level figures are estimates and do not represent a comprehensive list of all enforcement.

The scrutiny also extends to Meta’s advertising systems. The company has said advertisements undergo automated checks before they run, followed by manual reviews and re-reviews after publication. Meta can reject advertisements and restrict business accounts and associated assets when violations are identified.

Safeguards for younger users are another area under examination, particularly where sexualised advertising is concerned. Meta has said younger users are subject to more restrictive settings, including fewer advertisements and tighter content controls.

For Meta, the latest NCPCR summons comes against this broader regulatory backdrop. The immediate question for the company is whether its existing safeguards were sufficient to prevent the alleged CSEAM-related advertisements from appearing on its platforms in the first place.