The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has decided to institute a formal inquiry into Meta Platforms, Inc. over allegations that advertisements linked to Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material, or CSEAM, appeared on Instagram in India.
The decision follows Meta's written response to a notice the Commission issued on 3 July 2026, and marks an escalation from a preliminary explanation-seeking exercise to a fact-finding process by India's apex child rights body.
The NCPCR had taken suo motu cognisance of a BBC Eye investigation which reported that paid advertisements containing explicit terms were being served on Instagram in India, and that these advertisements directed users towards channels on Telegram where illegal material was allegedly being sold.
Meta filed its reply roughly a week after the notice.
The Commission has now decided that the response does not close the matter and that the facts need to be independently established.
