Instagram running ads promoting child sexual abuse material in India, BBC finds
BBC News 2026-07-03 03:50:18
Context: A BBC investigation found that Instagram was running paid advertisements promoting child sexual abuse material in India, with the ads using terms like "rape video" and "child video" and linking users to channels on the messaging app Telegram. The ads were approved by Instagram's moderation technology and appeared on the platform despite violating its community guidelines. The investigation's findings led to Instagram's parent company Meta disabling several adverts, suspending accounts, and removing additional ads and content that violated its policies.
Key Facts
- Instagram ran approximately 30 unique adverts promoting child sexual abuse material, with some ads shared by multiple accounts, and also showed about 20 ads featuring adult pornography on an alias account set up in India.
- The ads used terms including "rape video" and "child video" and linked users to channels on Telegram, where the material could be purchased for as little as 99 rupees (about $1).
- When the BBC reported one of the ads to Instagram, the platform responded 24 hours later saying the post did not violate its "community guidelines", but later Meta said it had already disabled several adverts and suspended the accounts posting them.
- Telegram reported removing more than 274,000 groups and channels related to child sexual abuse material in 2026, and uses both automated and human moderation to eradicate such material from the app.
- A retired justice of India's Supreme Court, Madan Lokur, expressed concern that Instagram was "making money by participating in a criminal activity" and suggested that the Supreme Court of India should take suo moto cognisance and get the government to act against social media platforms.