The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has directed Meta to disable the advertisements and content promoting and facilitating access to child sexual exploitative and abuse material (CSEAM) on Instagram, according to government sources. It has also sought an explanation on the issue.

“The Ministry has ordered Instagram to disable such advertisements. The government has also demanded a detailed explanation on the action taken and other relevant information within seven days. A notice in this regard was issued on Saturday,” said a source.

It is learnt that the notice was sent following a directive from IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to senior Ministry officials. Further course of action will be decided after reviewing the reply, said the source.

In response to a query on the notice, a Meta spokesperson pointed to an earlier statement shared after the BBC report came out, where it said it had a “zero tolerance policy for soliciting or sharing CSAM”. It had added that while it deployed technology to detect such advertisements, it was in a “constant battle with criminals who hide among our 3.5 billion users and try to evade our detection”. 

The move came a day after the BBC Eye published its investigation revealing that Instagram had allegedly been running “paid adverts promoting child sexual abuse material in India” and that such advertisements linked users to channels on Telegram, where they could buy the material.

Meta’s policy on advertisements states: “Ads must comply with the community standards on adult nudity and sexual activity. Ads must not contain imagery depicting nudity, sexual activity, depictions of people in explicit or sexually suggestive positions, or activities that are sexually suggestive”. The policy sets additional restrictions beyond the Community Standard on Adult Nudity and Sexual Activity, says its sub-site.

According to a written reply by Mr. Vaishnaw to the Lok Sabha last year, the IT Act, 2000 provides punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material and material containing sexually explicit acts in electronic form. The Act also provides for stringent punishment for publishing or transmitting material depicting children in sexually explicit acts in electronic form.

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Besides, the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 enforces obligations on the intermediaries, including social media intermediaries, to observe due diligence. If they fail to observe it, they lose the exemption under law for third-party information or data or communication links hosted by them. The intermediaries are required to remove any such content within 24 hours.

This apart, the Ministry of Home Affairs operates the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal to receive complaints against all types of cybercrimes, with special focus on cybercrimes against children. The Ministry has also set up the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) to deal with such offences.

The government has, from time to time, blocked websites containing CSAM, based on lists from Interpol received through the Central Bureau of Investigation. It has issued an order to Internet Service Providers (ISPs), directing them to block access to such web pages or websites, said the reply.