Met officials appear before NCPCR over alleged child sexual abuse material

On July 3, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights took suo motu cognizance of a media report regarding alleged advertisements related to CSEAM and sought an explanation from Met.

Executives of global social media giant Meta, which operates Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, appeared before the child rights body NCPCR on Wednesday (9 September 2026) in connection with its investigation into alleged child sexual exploitation and abuse material (CSEAM) advertisements on the platform.

Details of the questioning were not immediately available.

On July 3, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) took suo motu cognizance of a media report by BBC Eye regarding alleged advertisements related to CSEAM and requested Meta Platforms, Inc.

Meta submitted its response to the commission a week later.

The NCPCR has subsequently decided to initiate an inquiry to find out the facts of the matter and in continuation of the same has summoned the MD and head of Meta India to appear before it on Wednesday, officials said.

The commission’s move comes amid concerns over the alleged availability and promotion of child sexual abuse material through online platforms.

In July, the government issued a strong notice to Meta about CSEAM in paid ads on Instagram.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) ordered Instagram to disable all advertisements and content promoting and facilitating access to CSEAM and also demanded a detailed explanation.

The action came after IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw ordered MeitY officials to summon Met over ads on Instagram that allegedly promoted child sexual abuse material.

The regulatory review by the department came amid a BBC report that Meta’s recommendation algorithm allegedly promoted videos containing child sexual abuse material, revealing serious gaps in safeguards.

The BBC investigation also reportedly found that ads of this nature were appearing on Facebook and Instagram, despite Meta’s advertising policies expressly prohibiting nudity and sexually explicit content.

Instagram allegedly ran paid ads with terms like “rape video” and “child video” that directed users to Telegram channels where such content was allegedly being sold.

Published – 10 Sep 2026 13:49 IST