Instagram has been running paid advertisements promoting child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in India, a BBC Eye investigation has found — and the ads cleared the platform’s automated moderation before ever going live. Responding to Times Now Digital, Meta said it has “zero tolerance” for such content.
The adverts, seen by the BBC team, used terms including “rape video” and “child video” and linked users to channels on the messaging app Telegram, where the material was sold for as little as ₹99, about a dollar. Because ads on Instagram are published only after being approved by its moderation technology, the finding points to a failure at the very gate meant to stop such content.
Responding to Times Now Digital, a Meta spokesperson said the company does not tolerate such material. “Meta has a zero-tolerance policy for soliciting or sharing CSAM, including in ads,” the spokesperson said. “We use advanced AI technology to proactively detect violating content and individuals, but we are in a constant battle with criminals who hide among our 3.5 billion users and try to evade our detection. That is why our expert teams are constantly working to improve our defences, develop new technology to root out predators, block links to violating websites, and share intelligence with other companies so they can take action too.”
The BBC set up an alias account in India and followed 10 accounts posting suggestive content. Within a week, its feed was showing ads for video calls and explicit clips; days later, adverts of children alongside adults began appearing, each linking to Telegram. In all, the investigation identified around 30 unique adverts promoting CSAM, some shared by multiple accounts. The same account was also served roughly 20 ads featuring adult pornography — the distribution of which, like CSAM, is a criminal offence in India.
One advert showed two children who appeared to be about 12 years old in a sexual act. When the BBC reported another ad – of a distressed young girl, with wording indicating she had been assaulted – Instagram replied 24 hours later that it did not breach its community guidelines and left it up. Only after the BBC approached Meta did the company say it had removed adverts and suspended the accounts behind them.
Telegram, where the content was sold, said it had removed more than 274,000 groups and channels related to child sexual abuse material in 2026, adding that it uses automated and human moderation to keep such material off the app.
The findings land heavily in India, which recorded 1.9 million CyberTipline reports related to child sexual abuse material in 2025, second only to the United States. The BBC said it had reported all of the ads and the Telegram channels to the Indian authorities. Advertising remains central to Meta’s business, accounting for the vast majority of its revenue, a point critics say sharpens the question of what its ad-approval systems let through.
In a recent update, sources close to Times Now Digital have said that Meta team met Meity officials today following the notice summoning them on the issue of roll-out of the “usernames” feature on WhatsApp in India. Ministry officials sensitised them about the government’s concern relating to the feature. As the timeline for furnishing the detailed explanation on the “usernames” feature is for 3 days, they will submit their final reply as per the schedule.
