BBC reveals Instagram shows ads promoting child sexual exploitation material in India

BBC reveals Instagram shows ads promoting child sexual exploitation material in India

Published 7 July 2026

A new BBC Eye investigation reveals that Instagram is showing ads that promote child sexual exploitation material in India and profiting from them.

These ads link users to the messaging app Telegram, where they can pay for videos containing child abuse.

BBC journalist Divya Arya contacted India's cybercrime police, tracked down a former Meta executive, and spoke to a retired judge who told her that the BBC investigation's findings are serious enough to warrant intervention by India's Supreme Court. Meta told the BBC that it is fighting child exploitation on its platforms, removing ads that violate its policies, and reporting such content to authorities.

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