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New Delhi: The Central Government has shown strictness regarding obscene content on Instagram. Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnav has instructed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to summon Meta. Union Minister directs officials to summon Meta in case of Instagram ads promoting child sexual abuse material in India.

Government will ask these questions

According to sources, the ministry will ask Meta how/why such advertisements appeared? What are the measures to stop them and what steps will be taken to prevent such incidents in future? The government is concerned about the online safety of children and the accountability of the platforms. There has been no response from Meta yet.

Serious questions have again arisen regarding the safety of children on social media platforms. Instagram’s advertising network has been seriously accused of promoting accounts and websites that promote child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The Ministry of Information Technology (IT) will soon seek a reply from its parent company ‘Meta’ regarding this sensitive matter. The government says that there can be no compromise on the online safety of children and any kind of negligence in such matters will not be tolerated.

What is the whole matter?

This matter came to light after a media report, in which investigation claimed that some paid advertisements were running on Instagram which were promoting material to sexual exploitation of children. Through these advertisements, users were being directed to such channels of Telegram where allegedly this illegal material was being sold for up to Rs 99. The most serious thing is that Instagram’s advertising system shows these ads on the platform only after approval.

What does the law say?

Producing, broadcasting, promoting or distributing material to sexual exploitation of children is a serious crime in India. There is a provision for strict action in such cases under Section 67 and 67B of the Information Technology Act. Apart from this, under IT Rules 2021, it is the responsibility of big social media platforms to remove such illegal content in time. Action can also be taken against the culprits under the POCSO law that protects children from sexual crimes.

How serious is the matter?

India is already facing a serious challenge regarding the safety of children online. According to the available data, in the year 2025, about 19 lakh cybertipline complaints to sexual exploitation of children were registered from India. In this matter, India stood second after America.

Now what next?

Now all eyes are on how META responds to the government’s questions and what kind of reforms the company announces in its ad review system. In recent months, the central government has been continuously adopting a strict stance regarding objectionable content on online platforms. Earlier, action has been taken on many OTT platforms on allegations of obscene and objectionable content.

Recently, the government had also asked questions to META regarding the username feature of WhatsApp. In such a situation, the summoning of META after allegations of advertisements to sexual exploitation of children on Instagram is being considered as an indication that the government is now preparing to adopt a tougher stance on the issue of online safety of children.