A BBC Eye investigation has found that Instagram has been running paid advertisements promoting child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in India.
The adverts, which appear on the platform after being approved by its moderation technology, use explicit terms such as “rape video” and “child video”.
The investigation revealed that these advertisements link users to channels on the messaging app Telegram, where child abuse material is sold for as little as 99 rupees (approximately $1).
In total, approximately 30 unique adverts promoting child sexual abuse were identified, some of which were shared by multiple accounts.
Automated moderation failures
According to the sources, every advert on Instagram is reviewed by automated technology before being published. This system is designed to check images, video, text, and audio, as well as the destination of links.
However, when the BBC reported an advert showing a very young girl in tears with text indicating she had been sexually assaulted, Instagram initially responded that the post did not violate its community guidelines.
Meta, Instagram’s parent company, later stated that “no system is perfect” and that its review process may miss some policy violations. The company subsequently disabled several adverts, suspended associated accounts, and blocked violating URLs in response to the findings.
The BBC conducted the investigation by setting up an alias account in India after noticing the platform pushing sexually suggestive content to users who had not searched for it.
Within less than a week of following women posting “suggestive” content, the account was shown advertisements featuring children with adults in sexually suggestive situations and adults having sex.
Legal and ethical concerns
Madan Lokur, a retired justice of the Supreme Court of India, expressed grave concern, stating that Instagram was “making money by participating in a criminal activity”. He suggested the issue is serious enough for the Supreme Court to take suo moto cognisance and compel government action against social media platforms.
The distribution of both CSAM and adult pornography are criminal offences in India. Justice Lokur added that while Indian law provides some protection to social media companies regarding user-uploaded content, the platform “cannot shirk its responsibility”.
Corporate priorities questioned
Brian Boland, a former vice-president at Facebook (now Meta) who worked for the company between 2009 and 2020, said he was “horrified and unsurprised” by the findings. Boland alleged that Instagram’s algorithm is designed to keep users engaged by showing “something more extreme” to pursue goals of revenue and clicks.
Meta reported that nearly 98% of its $200 billion (£152 billion) revenue for the financial year ending 2025 came from advertising. Analysts estimate that adverts account for over 90% of Instagram’s revenue.
Impact in India
India remains a major hub for online child exploitation reports. In 2025, the country received 1.9 million reports via the NCMEC Cyber Tipline, second only to the United States. Shikha Goel, Director of the Cyber Security Bureau in Telangana, noted that Meta’s platforms generate the most tiplines in India.
Siddharth Pillai, co-founder of the Mumbai-based NGO Rati Foundation, stated that criminals exploit the “seamless navigation” from Instagram to Telegram to evade moderation efforts.
Meanwhile, Telegram told the BBC it uses both automated and human moderation to “virtually eliminate” the public spread of CSAM, reporting that it removed over 274,000 related groups and channels in 2026.
