NEW DELHI: Delhi Police has registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Meta India over the alleged availability of Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Material (CSEAM) on its platforms, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) member Priyank Kanoongo said on Thursday.
In a post on X, Kanoongo said the FIR was registered following directions from the NHRC.
“Acting on our directions, Delhi Police has registered an FIR regarding the availability of Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM) on platforms operated by Meta India,” he said.
The action follows allegations that child sexual abuse material was being circulated and promoted through advertisements on Meta-owned platforms, particularly Instagram. The issue had earlier drawn scrutiny from child rights authorities, including the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).
The FIR comes nearly two months after Meta announced a series of artificial intelligence-driven measures to strengthen the detection and removal of child sexual exploitation content across Facebook and Instagram.
According to the company, it took action against 5.3 million pieces of child sexual exploitation content on Facebook and Instagram in India between January and June 2026.
As part of its updated safety measures, Meta introduced large language model-based detection systems to identify what it calls 'signposting' in advertisements. These systems are designed to flag seemingly harmless advertisements that may direct users to illegal or harmful content.
The company also said it had improved its ability to examine external destinations linked to advertisements, rather than assessing only the content displayed within them. This allows it to identify and block websites hosting violating material and take action against the accounts responsible.
Meta has also introduced AI-driven scans of advertisements to detect child sexual exploitation material that may have escaped earlier detection systems. It has deployed a red-teaming AI agent to test its safety mechanisms and identify vulnerabilities that could be exploited by predators.
The company said it had strengthened systems to identify repeat offenders who attempt to return to its platforms by creating new accounts after being removed.
In India, Meta has committed to reporting child safety cases directly to the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, operated by the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C).
According to the company, this builds on its existing practice of reporting child sexual abuse material to law enforcement agencies through the portal, with assistance from the US-based National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).
The FIR marks a fresh development in the scrutiny of social media platforms over their handling of child sexual abuse material. Details of the FIR, including the specific legal provisions invoked and the next steps in the investigation, were not immediately available.
With inputs from media reports