Knews Desk- The central government has sent summons to the social media platform Meta. This action has been taken after allegedly objectionable and obscene advertisements to children surfaced on Instagram. Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnav has directed officials of the Ministry (MeitY) to summon Meta in this matter and seek a detailed reply from him.

The ministry has asked Meta to clarify how such advertisements appeared on the platform and what steps the company has taken to stop such content. The government says that any kind of negligence will not be tolerated in matters to the safety of children. The report said that some paid advertisements were seen on Instagram, in which terms like “child video” were used. The links provided with these advertisements took users to Telegram channels, where objectionable and obscene content was allegedly being sold. The report also claimed that this material was being made available at a very low price, around Rs 99.

The most serious thing that came to light was that these ads also crossed Instagram’s ad review system. Generally any advertisement has to go through Meta’s review process before being published, but despite this such advertisements started appearing on the platform. The report also said that when a complaint was made, Instagram responded that the ads in question did not violate its community guidelines, which further deepened the questions.

About 30 such advertisements were identified, which were said to be to objectionable content to children. Information about these advertisements and their associated Telegram channels was later shared with Indian authorities, following which the government took immediate action. After the matter gained prominence, the government has sought clarification from Meta on this entire network. The ministry also wants to know what action the company has taken to remove these advertisements and against the accounts, and what security measures are being implemented to prevent such cases in future. On the other hand, Meta has responded to this matter by saying that it has removed many objectionable advertisements and has suspended the accounts which were associated with these advertisements. According to the company, some other advertisements have also been removed, URLs have been blocked and action has been taken against several accounts violating the rules.

This case once again raises serious questions regarding monitoring and content moderation of online platforms. The government has made it clear that strict action will be taken against any violation to the safety of children and digital platforms will have to fulfill their responsibilities fully.