Child abuse Insta posts, WhatsApp groups removed after India Today report

Days after an India Today OSINT investigation exposed a Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) pipeline running from Instagram to Telegram sellers, a large share of the flagged content has since disappeared from the platform.

Following the story, a Meta representative contacted our team and requested the URLs. The URLs were subsequently shared.

Of the 50 Instagram URLs analysed in the original investigation, 39 have since been removed, while both WhatsApp groups flagged in the investigation have also been suspended.

24 Instagram URLs now return the message "Sorry, this page isn't available", while the remaining URLs have either been redirected or delisted from the platform.

Content removed, but questions over Meta's safeguards remain

In its July 7 report, Meta said it had “zero tolerance” for child exploitation and had removed more than 36 million pieces of such content globally last year.

Meta said the detection of “suspicious off-platform links” and other signals had resulted in 160,000 account removals in India over six months. It also said accounts had been disabled and URLs blocked following the allegations.

Yet, despite these stated safeguards, material flagged by India Today remained live and discoverable until it was directly reported, raising questions about how proactively such content was being detected.

The developments come amid mounting scrutiny of Meta’s safeguards. The Tech Transparency Project found hundreds of “AI-generated CSAM ads on Meta platforms,” including dozens that remained after Indian authorities had ordered their removal.

Last week, media reports quoting government sources said the Centre views Meta as no longer being merely an intermediary, but as a service provider whose algorithms influence content visibility and amplification. Meta officials also reportedly “admitted” to their mistake and said they would “report” child abuse content to Indian law enforcement agencies.

However, removing individual posts does not address the recommendation system vulnerability identified in the investigation, through which engagement with borderline content could lead users towards explicit material despite blocked keyword searches.

The content was removed only after direct reporting. Whether Meta’s own systems would have detected it before the report remains unanswered.