Meta Defends Child Safety Measures After Instagram Ad Row
Meta says it removed violating ads and accounts in India and will strengthen enforcement against child exploitation.
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Meta has defended its child safety enforcement practices following reports that Instagram carried paid advertisements in India allegedly linked to child exploitation, saying it had removed several violating ads and disabled the accounts behind them before the issue drew public attention.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the company said a subsequent internal investigation led to additional enforcement, including the removal of more advertisements, the disabling of accounts and the blocking of URLs linked to policy-violating content.
Meta rejected suggestions that its advertising systems deliberately targeted users based on inappropriate interests involving children.
“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,” the company said, adding that it uses automated systems to identify suspicious activity and removed more than 4 million suspicious accounts globally last year.
The company said its advertising review process combines automated detection with manual review to identify policy violations before advertisements are published.
Advertisements remain subject to continuous review even after they go live, and advertiser accounts can be restricted or suspended if violations are detected.
Meta said its policies prohibit child sexual exploitation, abuse, nudity and any content that endangers minors, and that all advertisements must comply with its Community Standards.
The company also highlighted its recent enforcement efforts. In the past six months, Meta said its AI-based detection systems led to the removal of 160,000 accounts in India linked to suspicious off-platform activity associated with child exploitation.
Globally, Meta said it removed 36 million pieces of child exploitation content last year and automatically disabled more than 4 million suspicious accounts across Facebook and Instagram.
According to the company’s latest Community Standards Enforcement Report, Meta removed 13 million pieces of child sexual exploitation content between October and December 2025, with more than 96% detected proactively before being reported by users.
Meta said it reports apparent cases of child exploitation to law enforcement through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and, in India, ensures compliance with the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
The company also said it continues to support industry-wide initiatives, including the Lantern intelligence-sharing programme, which enables technology companies to exchange signals on predatory accounts and online child exploitation activity, and the Take It Down tool developed with NCMEC to help prevent the spread of intimate images involving minors.
Meta said it will continue investing in AI-based detection systems, ad review processes and collaboration with law enforcement agencies to strengthen child safety across its platforms.
