• by Colin Kirkland , July 7, 2026

Meta issued a statement after a recent BBC investigation found paid ads promoting child abuse running on Instagram, writing that the company did not “knowingly and deliberately target ads featuring children” and has removed the ads and accounts in violation and URLs. 

According to the BBC investigation, ads running on Instagram in India used terms including “rape video” and “child video” with links to channels on encrypted messaging app Telegram. 

“Ads on Instagram are only published after first being approved by its moderation technology,” the BBC noted, adding that in response to one disturbing ad, Meta stated that it did not violate its “community guidelines.”

Days after Meta told the BBCa it had removed all ads in question, the ongoing investigation discovered more paid ads promoting child sexual abuse material and adult pornography. 

“No system is perfect, and our review process may not detect all policy violations,” a Meta spokesperson reportedly informed the BBC after the global news organization found about 30 unique ads promoting child sexual abuse.  

On Tuesday, the Indian government ordered Meta to remove the ads and content in question on Instagram, while also demanding an explanation on how Meta allowed these ads on the social platform. 

Meta subsequently offered a statement about the investigation and its evolving ad review policy.

“Before these cases were brought to our attention, our enforcement systems had already identified and disabled several of the violating ads and the accounts behind them,” Meta wrote in its response. “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.” 

Meta mentioned that it used its automated content-moderation technology to remove over 4 million violating accounts on Instagram and Facebook in 2025, along with 36 million pieces of child exploitation material. 

Meta says that over the last six months, it has removed around 160,000 accounts in India.

Notably, India remains Meta’s largest global market, with over 480 million Instagram users, which doubles users in the U.S., and the highest number of Facebook users (400 million) in any country across the globe. 

Using both automated and manual content reviews, Meta wrote that it constantly monitors and investigates advertiser behavior but that it is important to “recognize that no system is perfect.”

Meta recently informed the Financial Times that since March, its tests have shown that on average, large language models (LLMs) make 13% fewer mistakes than humans when moderating harmful content, ultimately uncovering 10% more violations.

In addition, Meta previously reported that its AI tools drove down views of ads with scams and other violations by 7%, offering potentially promising results and protections for brands.

However, despite the tech giant’s “detailed and robust policies against child nudity, abuse, and exploitation,” the BBC’s investigation shows that the tech giant may need to strengthen its moderation processes, which are becoming even more automated. 

By 2027, Meta is planning to implement AI-powered moderation approaches to almost all of the content and ad-reviewing responsibilities
 across its family of apps, which advertisers may be wary of as Meta continues to face lawsuits over the alleged influx of scam ads on its social media apps.

Last year, Reuters reported that Meta was secretly forecasting 10 percent of its annual revenue – about $16 billion – from scam ads.