India has intensified regulatory scrutiny of Meta, issuing separate warnings to Instagram and WhatsApp within a week over concerns about child sexual abuse material and cybersecurity, raising fresh compliance challenges for the U.S. social media giant in one of its largest global markets.
India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Saturday issued what state broadcaster DD News described as a “stern notice” to Meta over the presence of Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM) in paid advertisements on Instagram.
According to the report, the ministry directed Instagram to “immediately disable all advertisements and content that promote” child sexual abuse and demanded a detailed explanation from Meta within seven days.
The government action followed a BBC investigation published on Friday, which found that Instagram had been carrying paid advertisements promoting child sexual abuse material in India.
Responding to the allegations, Meta said it maintains a strict policy against such content.
“We have a Zero tolerance policy for child abuse-related content,” a Meta spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that the company relies heavily on artificial intelligence to detect harmful material but acknowledged the challenges involved.
“We are using AI technology to proactively detect violating content and individuals, but we are in a constant battle with criminals who hide among our 3.5 billion users and try to evade our detection.”
The latest warning comes as Meta faces mounting regulatory pressure worldwide. Earlier this year, the European Commission concluded in preliminary findings that the company had breached European Union rules by failing to prevent children under the age of 13 from accessing its platforms.
Although Meta disputed those findings, it could face penalties of up to six per cent of its total global annual turnover if the conclusions are upheld.
While Meta is not currently at risk of financial penalties in India, the latest actions underscore increasing regulatory oversight in one of the company’s most important markets. India is Instagram’s largest market, with more than 480 million users—more than twice the number in the United States as of 2025, according to Statista. The country also has more than 400 million Facebook users, the highest globally.
Industry analysts said the government’s latest actions should serve as a warning to the company.
Neil Shah, Vice President of Research at Counterpoint Research, described the development as “a wake-up call for Meta to tighten its compliance and control for its platforms,” adding that the Indian government is keen “to tighten the leash over these massive digital platforms.”
The warning over Instagram follows another regulatory intervention involving Meta’s messaging platform, WhatsApp.
Last week, Indian authorities directed WhatsApp to suspend the rollout of its planned username feature, arguing that it could facilitate cybercrime.
Meta defended the proposed feature, saying it was intended to improve user privacy.
The company described usernames as “a major privacy feature” designed to help users remain connected “without giving away phone numbers.”
Commenting on India’s regulatory approach, Reema Bhattacharya, Head of Asia Research at Verisk Maplecroft, said the country should be viewed as an increasingly demanding market for technology companies rather than an adversarial one.
“I would describe India as a more demanding regulatory market rather than a hostile one.”
She added that, given India’s strategic importance in the global digital economy, technology companies should expect regulators to become more involved in key policy areas.
“Companies should expect regulators to engage more actively on issues ranging from online safety to data governance.”
Boluwatife Enome
