Meta reply to Government notice on CSAM ads received; appropriate action after examination: IT Secretary

Meta's reply to the government notice over child sexual abuse material (CSAM) ads on Instagram has been received by Meity and is being examined, IT Secretary S Krishnan said on Monday, adding that appropriate action will be taken after examination.

The government had issued a stern notice to Meta recently on Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM) in paid advertisements on Instagram.

MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) had ordered Instagram to disable all ads and content promoting and facilitating access to CSEAM, and demanded a detailed explanation bound to a deadline.


Within a few days of the notice, Meta outlined its efforts to combat child sexual abuse material (CSAM) across its apps, highlighting AI-powered detection and large-scale enforcement actions, and, in a blogpost, promised to continue investment in technology and resources to keep young people safe and strengthen its ad review processes.

Krishnan said Monday that Meta's reply to the government notice has been received.

"On the CSAM content, we had issued a notice to Meta, and the reply has been received. It is currently under examination," Krishnan said.

The reply was received by the IT Ministry on Saturday, which was the last due day for the reply.

"And based on an examination of the reply, appropriate action would be taken," Krishnan said.