Meta published a detailed report in its blog on Tuesday regarding the measures the company is taking to combat Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) across all its applications. These efforts include the use of artificial intelligence-based technologies and large-scale law enforcement actions. The company also pledged to continue investing in resources and technology to ensure youth safety and strengthen advertising verification processes.
Meta described child exploitation as an 'horrific crime' and stated that it engages in daily aggressive work to combat such abuse both within and outside its platforms. The company emphasized that this work is continuous, with its teams constantly improving protection systems by developing new technologies, blocking infringing links, and sharing industry intelligence. Meta noted, however, that much remains to be done, and it will continue to invest all necessary resources into protecting young people, improving ad verification, and cooperating with law enforcement to hold criminals accountable.
The company detailed its current steps to combat child exploitation, focusing on AI detection and law enforcement action. Meta acknowledged recent reports of Instagram advertising policy violations in India related to child exploitation and assured that it takes these issues seriously, as it never wishes for such content on its platforms, and strives to improve its efforts to combat it.
Meta categorically denied the claim that it intentionally targets advertisements featuring children toward users due to inappropriate interest. Instead, the company uses technology to identify accounts exhibiting potentially suspicious activity related to children and reported automatically removing over four million such accounts last year.
It was noted that Meta has intensified the use of AI to fight child exploitation by implementing new systems that cover the languages spoken by 98 percent of online users. Last year, over four million suspicious accounts and 36 million child exploitation-related materials were globally removed. In India, AI tools helped remove 160,000 accounts in the last six months for posting suspicious links related to exploitative activities.
Meta also indicated that its law enforcement systems detected and disabled several violating ads and associated accounts even before the incidents became known. Subsequent investigations led to additional measures, including the removal of further ads, account deactivation, and blocking of URLs containing policy-violating content.
The tech giant Meta, based in Menlo Park, California, owns the popular social networks Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The company uses advanced AI tools to detect suspicious external links posted by users combined with other indicators pointing to child exploitation activity. In India, this has resulted in the removal of 160,000 accounts in the last six months.
Meanwhile, government sources told PTI that an official response from Meta is expected to the notification received on Saturday. The government will focus on corrective measures and actions taken by the company to address concerns.
Last week, the government sent a strict notice to Meta regarding Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Material (CSEAM) in Instagram paid advertising. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) demanded that Instagram disable all advertising and content that promotes or facilitates access to CSEAM, and requested a detailed explanation within seven days.
These actions followed the IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw instructing MeitY officials to summon Meta regarding Instagram advertising allegedly promoting child sexual abuse material. The regulatory scrutiny by the ministry came amid a BBC report that Meta's recommendation algorithm might have contributed to the spread of videos with child sexual exploitation material, revealing serious gaps in protective mechanisms.
The BBC investigation also allegedly found such advertising on Facebook and Instagram, despite Meta's explicit advertising policy ban on nudity and explicit sexual content. It is alleged that Instagram displayed paid ads with terms like 'rape video' and 'child video' that directed users to Telegram channels where such content was allegedly sold.
In its Tuesday blog, Meta stated that its ad review process combines automated systems with human review to detect and remove policy-violating ads, while acknowledging that no system can catch every violation. Ads are reviewed before serving and continue to undergo constant and repeated monitoring, and users can also report suspected violations.
The company also monitors advertiser behavior beyond individual ads and can reject ads or restrict the business accounts, pages, and user accounts of violators. Meta stressed that it continues to strengthen its ad verification and law enforcement systems to exclude bad actors from its platforms and better protect users.
Emphasizing its zero-tolerance policy on this issue, Meta stated that it has detailed and robust rules against child nudity, abuse, and exploitation, which include the distribution or search for images related to child exploitation, inappropriate interaction with minors, and the sexualization of minors. According to its Advertising Standards, all ads must comply with Meta's Community Standards on Child Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Nudity, and must not contain content that sexually exploits or endangers children.
Meta reports identified cases of child exploitation to law enforcement through the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), publishes global and India-specific transparency reports, and has appointed compliance officers (Chief Compliance Officer, Complaints Officer, and Node Contact) in accordance with Indian IT rules. The company collaborates with the industry and law enforcement to combat online child exploitation outside its own platforms, supporting industry efforts and participating in the Lantern technology coalition program for intelligence sharing on predatory accounts.
The Indian government has sent an official notification to Meta regarding content related to Child Sexual Abuse Material and Exploitation (CSEAM) being placed in paid advertisements on Instagram. The Ministry demanded a detailed response within seven days.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) instructed Instagram to immediately remove or block all advertising materials and content that promotes or facilitates access to CSEAM.
Instagram is highly popular among youth both in India and globally. Users spend significant time on the platform, particularly using the Reels feature. Companies actively use Instagram to promote brands and enhance their presence through advertising.
Issues with Meta persist. Previously, the company also received a notification concerning the username reservation feature on WhatsApp. Meta launched this feature in India in a test mode to respond to a request for explanations. The Indian government was concerned that the username feature on WhatsApp could be exploited by cybercriminals. Nevertheless, the company stated that it is not yet implementing this feature, planning its launch by the end of the year.
The Indian government intends to demand official clarifications from Meta after reports emerged that paid advertisements on Instagram were promoting material related to child sexual abuse within India.
According to sources, the Minister of Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, instructed MeitY officials to request detailed explanations from the company. Specifically, MeitY will ask how Instagram's moderation systems allowed such advertising, whether checks were conducted before the ads went live, and what measures were taken after the issue was identified. Furthermore, the government may require details on the mechanisms for filtering advertisements and the protective measures the company uses to prevent similar incidents in the future.
According to a BBC investigation, paid advertisements containing explicit terms and links were displayed on Instagram in India, directing users to Telegram channels where child sexual abuse material was allegedly sold. The report indicated that these ads appeared through an account based in India and passed Instagram's moderation system. In response, Meta stated that it had disabled numerous accounts and ads, as well as blocked violating URLs, emphasizing its 'zero tolerance policy for the promotion or distribution of CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material)'.
A Meta representative told TOI that the company employs 'advanced artificial intelligence technologies for proactive detection of prohibited content and individuals,' but added that it is 'in a constant battle with criminals hiding among our 3.5 billion users and trying to evade our detection.' Under Indian IT legislation, intermediaries are obligated to combat harmful content, especially that related to child sexual exploitation. Government sources noted that advertising, unlike regular posts, must undergo prior screening. One source stated that 'the platform must explain how such content could appear despite the stated policies.'
This scandal occurs amid the Central Government's efforts to ensure platform accountability for online harms, including content targeting children, indecent material, deepfakes, and cybercrime. Meta has stated that its teams are continuously working to improve protection systems, develop new technologies to identify predators, block links to prohibited websites, and exchange information with other companies to reduce child exploitation online.
Meta has discreetly introduced a new software focused on developing games and interactive experiences through the use of artificial intelligence (AI). This application, named Pocket, allows users to generate small games and applications simply by sending text commands, known as prompts, to the AI.
The development of Pocket is the result of the acquisition that Meta made earlier this year of the team responsible for the AI-based gaming platform called Gizmo. Officially, Pocket is presented as a creative platform intended for the production and sharing of 'gizmos,' the term used to designate the interactive experiences created by users. Additionally, the application includes a continuous scrolling feed, allowing users to explore and test 'gizmos' developed by other community members.
As evidenced in screenshots obtained from Google Play, Pocket shares several characteristics with the original Gizmo, which remains available in app stores. Similar to Pocket, Gizmo allows users to create small interactive experiences assisted by AI using text prompts, and it also features a dedicated feed for discovering community-generated content.
The launch of Pocket was first noticed by Alessandro Paluzzi, an engineer specializing in reverse engineering recognized for anticipating new functionalities and applications. On Thursday morning (2), he shared an image of the app's page on the Play Store via the X network. However, according to data provided by the application intelligence company Appfigures, Pocket was first made available on June 29, 2026, on both the App Store and Google Play. Due to its recent launch, Appfigures has not yet been able to confirm whether the application has reached a number of downloads.
Meta has not issued official statements about Pocket. This new release reinforces the company's strategy of promoting AI-based creation tools. Previously, the company had already made image generation features available through the Meta AI app and video creation through the Vibes app. Furthermore, Meta has integrated AI functionalities into its social media platforms and the Edits video editing app, specifically aimed at content creators. Since Pocket has not been formally announced, it is expected to remain in an initial testing phase.
Appfigures reported that Gizmo, the platform that gave rise to Pocket, accumulated 635 thousand installations throughout its lifetime, covering both iOS and Google Play versions. The same company also reported that the application achieved a positive satisfaction rate of 98% among its users.
