In brief
The Tech Transparency Project uncovered 332 Meta ads showing child sexual abuse material during the past year, with 84 of them airing in India after the government ordered the platform to remove such content. The ads were often AI‑generated and targeted at minors, directing users to questionable apps and even to the messaging platform Telegram. Meta claimed its systems flagged and removed many ads swiftly, yet critics argue that its reporting framework is limited and that it relies heavily on automation. Indian child‑rights advocates have filed a Supreme Court petition demanding mandatory CSAM reporting and stricter enforcement by social‑media companies. The findings raise serious concerns about the effectiveness of Meta’s monitoring and the broader challenge of policing exploitative content online.
A new report from the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) has demonstrated that Meta continues to run hundreds of paid ads that feature child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on its platforms in India, even after the government has instructed the company to remove such content.
The TTP analysis identified a total of 332 adverts across Facebook and Instagram—274 of them in August—most of which used AI to transform images of children into graphic sexual acts. A quarter of these (84) were flagged in India after the country's order to cancel CSAM‑bearing adverts, with 78 publishing after the decree and a further 4 before the order.
Meta’s response states that it “does not tolerate nudify apps or any form of child exploitation, whether real or AI‑generated” and that it keeps strengthening its detection. Yet the company admits that its own reporting system only allows users to flag live adverts, a limitation highlighted by TTP's attempts to report 55 of the 84 Indian ads.
On 1-2 September, 11 new CSAM‑related ads appeared in India despite TTP’s 10‑month audit. The ads directed consumers toward AI image and video generation apps and, in some cases, the messaging app Telegram, where the material could be purchased for as little as ₹99 ($1.05).
In response to the BBC’s earlier investigation, Meta reassured that it was eliminating the identified ads, suspending the associated accounts, and blocking URLs that violated its policies. The company emphasizes that “no system is perfect” and that criminals continually adapt to bypass moderation. Critics, however, claim that Meta’s prohibition on nudifying apps remains weak and that its partnerships with Chinese ad resellers continue to circulate large volumes of abusive content.
Indian child‑rights advocates, led by Bhuwan Ribhu, have petitioned the Supreme Court for mandatory reporting of CSAM by social media platforms, asserting that the current approach does not satisfy national child‑protection laws. Shikha Goel, a cyber‑security officer in Telangana, highlighted that the ease with which users move between platforms complicates CSAM enforcement and praised the government’s recent engagement with Meta to strengthen oversight.
