India warns Meta over Instagram child abuse ads

India’s technology ministry has demanded that Instagram remove child sexual exploitation and abuse-related material from its platform after a BBC investigation said paid advertisements promoting such content had appeared in India. The warning adds regulatory pressure on Meta in a market that Statista data identifies as the world’s largest audience base for Instagram and Facebook.

Indian state broadcaster DD News reported that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued a stern notice to Meta on Saturday over the presence of child sexual exploitative and abuse material in paid advertisements on Instagram. The ministry directed Instagram to disable immediately all ads and content that promote child abuse and asked Meta for a detailed explanation within seven days, according to DD News.

The notice followed a BBC report on Friday that said Instagram had run paid advertisements in India promoting child sexual abuse material. Meta did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

The Indian action is notable because paid advertising involves a platform’s commercial distribution systems, rather than only user-uploaded posts. In such cases, regulators can examine not just whether prohibited material was present, but also how ad review, targeting and enforcement processes allowed it to be promoted to users.

Neil Shah, vice president of research at Counterpoint Research, told CNBC the episode should push Meta to strengthen compliance and oversight across its platforms, while saying Indian authorities are seeking tighter control over large digital services.

Regulatory pressure spreads across Meta platforms

The Instagram notice came days after Indian authorities raised concerns about WhatsApp, another Meta platform. The government warned over WhatsApp’s planned username feature, saying it could increase cybercrime incidents, and directed the messaging service to pause the rollout, according to CNBC.

Meta has defended usernames as a privacy feature, saying in a company post that they would let people stay connected without sharing phone numbers. The feature changes how users identify themselves on the service: instead of relying only on phone numbers, people can reserve names that others may use to contact them.

India is a critical market for Meta’s consumer platforms. Statista data cited by CNBC shows India had more than 480 million Instagram users as of 2025, more than twice the U.S. audience. Statista also lists India as having more than 400 million Facebook users, the largest national user base globally. India is also Meta’s largest market for WhatsApp users, according to the report.

The latest scrutiny comes as Meta faces child-safety questions in other jurisdictions. Earlier this year, the European Commission said Meta had breached European Union law by failing to stop children under 13 from using its platforms. Meta disagreed with the Commission’s preliminary findings. If the findings are confirmed, the company could face penalties of as much as 6% of annual worldwide turnover under EU rules.

CNBC reported that Meta does not face an immediate fine in India over the Instagram notice. The government’s demand for removals and an explanation nevertheless underscores the operational risk for global platforms when content moderation, advertising controls and online safety rules intersect in high-growth markets.

Reema Bhattacharya, head of Asia research at Verisk Maplecroft, told CNBC she views India as a more demanding regulatory market rather than a hostile one. She said companies should expect more active engagement from Indian regulators on online safety and data governance because of the country’s importance as a digital market.

This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.