India's IT Ministry Reviews Meta's Response to Child Abuse Ads Notice

IT Secretary S Krishnan announced that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has received Meta's reply to the government's notice over child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in Instagram advertisements. The reply, submitted on the deadline Saturday, is now under examination and appropriate action will be taken after review.

The notice, issued under Section 67 (b) of the IT Act, ordered Instagram to disable all ads and content promoting or facilitating access to CSAM and demanded a detailed explanation within seven days. Meta responded by outlining its use of AI‑powered detection tools, the removal of violating ads, the disabling of accounts, and the blocking of URLs linked to illegal content. The company highlighted that in the preceding six months it had removed 160,000 accounts in India and globally eliminated millions of pieces of child‑exploitation content.

The ministry's examination will determine any further enforcement steps against Meta for the alleged violations of India's child protection laws.