Meta clarifies Ad review standards after India's action over Instagram child abuse ads

The Indian government has warned Meta that it could face action over its platforms, including Instagram and WhatsApp, underscoring the growing regulatory scrutiny the US social media giant faces in one of its largest markets.

Last week, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued a stern notice to Meta over the presence of child sexual exploitation and abuse material in paid advertisements on Instagram.

The government directed Instagram to "immediately disable all advertisements and content that promote child abuse" and sought a detailed explanation from Meta within seven days.

Meta's response

"We're aware of recent news reports about Instagram ads in India that violated our policies against child exploitation. We want to be clear: we take these concerns seriously, we never want this content on our platforms, and we're committed to improving our efforts to combat it."

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Meta said its enforcement systems had already detected and removed several of the offending advertisements and disabled the associated accounts before the cases were brought to the company's attention. A subsequent investigation led to further action, including the removal of additional ads, the disabling of more accounts, and the blocking of URLs linked to content that violated its policies.

"It is categorically inaccurate to suggest that we'd knowingly and deliberately target ads featuring children to people based on an inappropriate interest in children. Quite the opposite; we use technology to identify accounts that have shown potentially suspicious activity related to children, and we automatically removed over 4 million of these accounts last year."

How Meta's ad review process works

Meta acknowledged that bad actors continually attempt to misuse its platforms, including its advertising systems. The company said that while no review process can catch every policy violation, it is constantly working to stay ahead of malicious actors through a robust ad review system.

The company said it uses both automated tools and manual reviews to enforce its advertising policies. Beyond evaluating individual advertisements, Meta also reviews advertisers' business accounts and related assets. It may restrict or disable accounts that violate its Advertising Standards, Community Standards, or other company policies.

Meta added that its systems automatically scan advertisements for policy violations before they are published and continue monitoring them after they go live. The company said it removes violating ads, restricts or disables offending accounts, and prevents them from advertising across its platforms. It also said it continuously updates its enforcement systems to better detect and block bad actors.

Meta's zero-tolerance approach

Meta said it maintains strict policies against child nudity, sexual exploitation, and abuse. These policies prohibit the sharing or solicitation of child sexual abuse material, inappropriate interactions with minors, and any content that sexualises children.

The company added that all advertisements must comply with its Community Standards on Child Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Nudity. Ads that exploit, endanger, or otherwise harm children are prohibited under its advertising policies.