Republic Expose Corners Meta As Statement Fails To Explain Why Child Abuse Content Still LIVE On Facebook, Instagram

Meta, currently under fire following reports of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on Instagram, has issued a response outlining its efforts to combat what it terms a ‘horrific crime’.

The issue significantly came to light when the central government issued a stern notice to Meta on Child Sexual Exploitative & Abuse Material (CSEAM) in paid advertorials on Instagram. The MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) ordered Instagram to disable all advertorials and content promoting and facilitating access to CSEAM. The Centre also demanded a detailed explanation from Meta.

An in depth investigation was carried out by Republic Media Network on Meta Platforms to find how the CSAM content is being embedded on its platform like Instagram and Facebook. Republic Investigation led by specific keyword search found that soft pornographic content related to children specifically that in the age group of one year to five year was being floated on its social media platforms.

Republic Investigation Shows Some Uncomfortable Truths

Our investigation confirmed that the Child Sexual Abuse Material is still available online and easily accessible by users. The Republic investigation also exposed that the Instagram algorithm throws up the Child Sexual Abuse Material so easily that nine videos showed up in five minutes. 

The worse came after we flagged the content on Meta and the first response was that the platform cannot take the content down.

In its detailed India-specific statement following Republic Media Network's expose on CSAM in India, Meta acknowledged the news reports related CSAM available on its platform. The detailed statement was released two days after Republic put out back to back investigative reports raising crucial questions on the tech giant. 

Meta defended its safety record and shared removal statistics. Yet, the company failed to explain why specific flagged content remained online, maintaining pressure from both the network and the Indian government.

Meta On Republic Investigation

Reacting to the Republic investigation, Meta has gone on the defensive dodging accountability. While the tech giant claimed it ‘never wants this content’ on its platforms, its response has raised more questions than answers. Meta boasted that it reported CSAM to India's national cyber-crime portal and deleted 1.6 lakh accounts in the last six months. It also strongly denied knowingly targeting advertorials featuring children being abused and exploited.

Meta also hit out at allegations that it deliberately targeted ads featuring children to inappropriate audiences.

Yet, the defense falls short and here's the Reality Check! Despite Meta claiming they took action to block URLs and disable accounts, Republic investigation reveals that multiple CSAM-related accounts are still active and actively drawing traffic.

Crucially, Meta’s in-depth statement stays completely silent on why this flagged material is still live in India and why these predatory accounts haven't been permanently deleted.