Meta under NHRC scanner over ‘paid promotion’ of adult content; Report

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has reportedly received complaints alleging that Meta’s platforms are being used to promote sexually explicit content through paid advertising. Now, the commission has asked Meta, MeitY and Gurugram Police to submit action-taken reports, as per a Moneycontrol report.

It is highlighted that Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are allegedly promoting pornographic and sexually explicit content on the platform. Now, the NHRC has given a seven-day timeline from receiving the notice to state what actions are in place. The commission states that the issue should be dealt with “utmost urgency.”

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Meta was recently scrutinised by the Indian government over the circulation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) and PM Modi’s video removal from Facebook.

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Reportedly, NHRC has asked Meta to provide details of the accounts and advertisers that allegedly paid to promote the material, payment records with proof of promotions, targeting parameters, and details on how many people the promoted content potentially reached.

The commission is also seeking details on human and automated safety checks conducted by Meta before starting promotion of such content and an explanation of how the allegedly adult material was allowed to be promoted. The social media giant is also ordered to preserve relevant digital records.

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On the other hand, NHRC has asked MeitY to examine whether the alleged use of Meta's promotional tools violates the IT Act. Furthermore, Gurugram Police must investigate the allegations and file an FIR if any offence is identified.

Meta under scanner of Indian government

Over the past two weeks, Meta has been facing several allegations over the distribution of child sexual abuse material, deepfakes and bots on Instagram, highlighting lapses in Meta’s content moderation system. The issue was fueled after the temporary removal of a Facebook post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Days before, Meta's chief global affairs officer Joel Kaplan and his team briefed MeitY officials, including the IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, on a range of content moderation and platform governance issues, including the handling of CSAM content and the removal of a video posted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg