New Delhi (Gurpreet Singh): The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has summoned the Managing Director and Head of Meta India to appear before the statutory body on Wednesday in connection with an ongoing inquiry into alleged advertisements promoting child sexual exploitative and abuse material (CSEAM) on its platforms. The child rights regulator had initially taken suo motu cognisance of an investigative media report published by BBC Eye on July 3, seeking an explanation from Meta Platforms, Inc. regarding child safety safeguards. Following an examination of Meta’s formal response submitted a week later, the commission resolved to institute an in-depth inquiry to ascertain the full facts and circumstances of the matter.
The summons marks a significant escalation in regulatory scrutiny over the alleged promotion and monetization of exploitative content via online advertising algorithms. In July, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued a stern directive to Instagram, ordering the platform to immediately disable all advertisements and content facilitating access to CSEAM while demanding an exhaustive explanation. The government’s intervention followed instructions from Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who directed ministry officials to summon Meta representatives over promotional material surfaced across its networks.
The broader regulatory pushback follows findings from the BBC investigation indicating that Meta’s recommendation systems promoted videos containing child abuse material, exposing glaring vulnerabilities in automated moderation mechanisms. The reporting documented that paid commercial advertisements appeared on Facebook and Instagram featuring explicit search terminology, which then redirected users to external Telegram channels where illicit material was offered for sale, circumventing stated company policies against explicit and prohibited content.
