Instagram has been running paid adverts promoting child sexual abuse material in India, a BBC Eye investigation has found – as the National Crime Agency warns parents in the UK not to publicly share images of their children due to the growing threat of AI-generated abuse imagery.
The ads, seen by the BBC World Service, use terms including “rape video” and “child video” and link users to channels on the messaging app Telegram, where the material can be bought for as little as 99 rupees (about 80p). In total, about 30 unique adverts appeared promoting child sexual abuse, while the alias account set up by the BBC was also shown about 20 ads featuring adult pornography.
“Instagram ran ads promoting child sexual abuse material in India, as the NCA warned parents not to share children's images due to AI abuse risks.”
When the BBC reported one of the ads to Instagram, the social media platform responded 24 hours later saying the post did not violate its “community guidelines”. Later, after the BBC asked Meta for comment, the company said it had already disabled several adverts and suspended the accounts. It added that it had removed additional ads, disabled more accounts and blocked URLs in response to the BBC’s findings. Hours after the investigation was published, the Indian government said it had summoned representatives of Meta over the adverts.
A retired justice of India’s Supreme Court, Madan Lokur, said he was concerned that Instagram was “making money by participating in a criminal activity”. Both child sexual abuse material and adult pornography are criminal offences in India.
The warning from the NCA, issued alongside the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), said there is a growing threat of children’s images online being used to create child sexual abuse material (CSAM). More than 8,000 AI-generated images and videos of realistic child sexual abuse were identified by the IWF in 2025 – a 14% increase on the year before. The IWF said its analysts had identified 13 AI-generated videos of child sexual abuse in 2024, but in 2025 this number had increased to 3,440.
“While we and policing colleagues tackle offenders, prevention remains vital,” said Tim Wright, a senior manager at the NCA. The organisation has released fresh guidance for parents outlining steps to help keep children safe online, including reviewing privacy settings and making a “close friends” group for sharing images.
“AI is becoming a part of everyday life,” the guidance states. “Whilst it has many benefits, it can also be misused – including by those who use it to make, manipulate and share nude, semi-nude or sexual images and videos of children.”
Telegram said it had removed more than 274,000 groups and channels related to child sexual abuse material in 2026. The government has sought to tackle AI abuse threats by banning so-called “nudification” apps and tweaking laws to help AI firms ensure their systems cannot be used to produce CSAM.