Warning: This story contains descriptions of abuse

An investigation by BBC Eye has found that Instagram has been displaying paid advertisements in India that promote child sexual abuse material.

The adverts, reviewed by the BBC World Service, included phrases such as “rape video” and “child video” and directed users to channels on the messaging platform Telegram, where the illegal material was offered for sale for as little as 99 rupees (around 80p).

Within hours of the investigation being published, the Indian government announced it had summoned representatives from Meta, Instagram’s parent company, to address the issue.

Instagram states that all advertisements must be approved by its moderation systems before appearing on the platform.

When the BBC reported one of the adverts, Instagram responded 24 hours later, stating that the content did not breach its “community guidelines”.

After the BBC sought further comment, Meta said it had already removed several adverts and suspended the associated accounts. The company added that it had taken down additional ads, disabled more profiles, and blocked certain URLs identified as violating its policies following the BBC’s findings.

Telegram said it had removed more than 274,000 groups and channels connected to child sexual abuse material in 2026.

The BBC created a new alias account on Instagram after observing that the platform was recommending sexually suggestive content, even when users had not actively searched for it.

This included accounts of women posting about everyday topics such as food, weather, and daily life in India, while wearing revealing clothing and using suggestive language in captions.

The alias account, set up in India, followed 10 such accounts to examine how sexualised material was promoted.

In under a week, Instagram began displaying adverts offering video calls with women and showing explicit sexual imagery involving adults.

Shortly afterwards, the account was shown adverts depicting children with adults in sexually suggestive contexts, accompanied by links to Telegram channels.

In total, roughly 30 distinct adverts promoting child sexual abuse appeared, although some were posted by multiple accounts.

The account was also shown approximately 20 adverts containing adult pornographic content.

Both the distribution of child sexual abuse material and adult pornography are criminal offences in India. Meta’s policies state that adverts must not feature adult nudity, explicit sexual content, or material that exploits or endangers children. The BBC reported all relevant adverts and Telegram channels to Indian authorities.

One advert depicted a boy and girl, both appearing to be around 12 years old, engaged in a sexual act.

Another showed a man with his arm around a girl, with accompanying text claiming he was 52 and she was 12, alongside a message inviting users to click to watch more via Telegram.

The BBC also reported an advert showing a very young girl in tears, with wording suggesting she had been sexually assaulted.

Despite this, Instagram replied a day later stating that its review team had determined the advert did not violate community standards.

Meta later acknowledged that “no system is perfect” and that its review process may fail to detect every policy breach.

The company said it continues to use proactive detection technology on live adverts and allows users to report any ad they believe breaks the rules.

Meta added that when it identifies apparent child exploitation, it reports the material to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), in line with legal requirements. NCMEC operates as a global clearinghouse for reports of online child sexual exploitation.

The BBC reported two Telegram channels that were selling child sexual abuse videos.

One channel was later removed and replaced with a notice stating that it had violated Telegram’s terms of service, while the other continued posting new material for sale.

Telegram has previously faced criticism for not doing enough to curb criminal content on its platform.

The Dubai-based company is not a member of NCMEC, but it joined the Internet Watch Foundation in late 2024, an organisation that collaborates with online platforms to detect and remove child sexual abuse material.

Telegram told the BBC that it employs both automated systems and human moderators to eliminate such content, claiming it has “virtually eliminated the public spread” of child sexual abuse material from its service.

Advertising represents a crucial source of revenue for Meta.

In January, the company reported that nearly 98% of its $200bn (£152bn) revenue for the financial year ending 2025 came from advertising. Analysts estimate that adverts account for more than 90% of Instagram’s income.

While ordinary posts are typically reviewed after publication, Meta says every advertisement undergoes screening before appearing on its platforms.

Its review system relies primarily on automated tools that analyse images, video, text, and audio, as well as targeting criteria and linked destinations.

These systems either approve or reject adverts automatically, escalating uncertain cases for human review.

In March, Meta announced it would reduce reliance on third-party moderators and increase its use of artificial intelligence, stating that experts would design, train, and oversee these AI systems.

The BBC described the adverts to retired Indian Supreme Court justice Madan Lokur, who expressed concern that Instagram appeared to be “making money by participating in a criminal activity”.

He said the matter was serious enough for India’s Supreme Court to take suo moto cognisance and compel government action against any social media platform involved.

Justice Lokur noted that although Indian law shields platforms from liability for user-uploaded content, they cannot avoid responsibility altogether.

Brian Boland, a former Facebook vice-president who worked at the company from 2009 to 2020, said he was “horrified and unsurprised” by the findings.

Boland, who helped develop the company’s advertising operations, said he left because he felt the company did not sufficiently prioritise user welfare.

He explained that Instagram’s algorithm aims to keep users engaged by showing increasingly extreme or provocative content.

According to Boland, while the system is not intentionally designed to promote criminal behaviour, an unchecked focus on revenue and engagement can lead to harmful outcomes without strong safeguards.

He recalled leading a project between 2009 and 2010 to remove scam adverts, which significantly reduced revenue but prioritised user safety.

Over time, he said, financial considerations became more central to decision-making.

Boland deleted his Instagram account in 2025 and suggested that widespread user departures would force the company to respond.

In a statement, Meta said: “Child exploitation is a horrific crime and Meta works aggressively to fight it on our apps.”

The company described as “categorically inaccurate” any suggestion that it knowingly targeted users with adverts featuring children.

Meta denied placing profit above safety and said it automatically disabled more than four million accounts in 2025 due to suspicious behaviour signals.

It added that while criminals attempt to evade detection, its teams continually improve defences, develop new technologies, block offending links, and share intelligence with other companies.

Boland testified against Meta earlier this year in a trial in New Mexico, where the company was accused of misleading users about child safety on its platforms.

The court ordered Meta to pay $375m (£279m) to the state. The company said it disagreed with the ruling and planned to appeal.

US-based social media companies are required to report child sexual abuse material to NCMEC’s Cyber Tipline.

The tipline then forwards reports to relevant law enforcement agencies in the country where the alleged offence occurred.

In 2025, India received 1.9 million such reports, second only to the United States with two million.

Shikha Goel, director of the Cyber Security Bureau in Telangana, said Instagram and Facebook generated the highest number of tipline reports among platforms.

However, she noted that higher reporting figures may reflect stronger detection systems rather than higher volumes of offending content.

The Rati Foundation, a Mumbai-based NGO operating a helpline for children facing online harm, said most of its child sexual abuse material reports involve Meta platforms.

Co-founder Siddharth Pillai said criminals exploit the ease of moving users from Instagram to Telegram, allowing them to evade moderation and repeatedly upload content.

Experts say child sexual abuse material in India is often produced by organised criminal networks, including human traffickers, though in some cases family or community members are involved.

Bhuwan Ribhu, founder of Just Rights for Children, a coalition of more than 250 organisations, said underreporting remains a problem and law enforcement agencies are still building the technical expertise needed to combat the crime.

He emphasised that international cooperation and cross-border intelligence sharing are essential.

To dismantle organised networks effectively, he said, authorities must track the entire chain of supply and demand.

Correction 4 July: This article originally stated that Telegram was not a member of the Internet Watch Foundation. It has been updated to clarify that Telegram joined the organisation in late 2024.