Meta has published a detailed blog outlining the measures it is taking to combat child exploitation across Facebook and Instagram, reiterating its commitment to strengthening detection systems, enforcing platform policies and supporting industry-wide efforts to tackle online abuse.
Calling child exploitation “a horrific crime”, the company said, “Every day, we work aggressively to fight this kind of abuse both on and off our platforms.” Referring to recent reports of policy-violating Instagram advertisements in India, Meta added, “We take these concerns seriously, we never want this content on our platforms, and we’re committed to improving our efforts to combat it.”
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It also said that before the cases were brought to its attention, its enforcement systems had already identified and disabled several violating ads and the accounts behind them, with subsequent investigations leading to the removal of additional ads, accounts and URLs linked to policy-violating content.
Responding to concerns around its advertising systems, Meta said it uses a combination of automated and manual reviews to enforce its advertising policies. The company noted that its review process evaluates images, videos and text before advertisements are served, while advertiser accounts and business assets are also monitored for policy compliance. At the same time, it acknowledged that “no system is perfect” and that “determined criminals will continue to try to exploit our platform, including through our advertising systems.”
Meta also shared fresh data on its enforcement efforts. Globally, it said it automatically removed more than 4 million suspicious accounts from Facebook and Instagram last year, in addition to 36 million pieces of content removed for child exploitation. In India, the company said advanced AI detection tools helped identify suspicious off-platform links associated with exploitative activity, leading to the removal of 160,000 accounts over the past six months.
The company said it reports apparent cases of child exploitation to law enforcement through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), while in India such reporting is carried out in compliance with the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and related rules. It added that between October and December 2025, it removed 13 million pieces of child sexual exploitation content from Facebook and Instagram, with over 96% of that content detected proactively before being reported by users.
Beyond its own platforms, Meta highlighted its participation in industry initiatives aimed at tackling online child exploitation. It said it is a founding member of Lantern, a Tech Coalition programme that enables companies to share signals about predatory accounts and behaviour. By the end of 2025, Meta said more than 2 million signals had been shared through Lantern, supporting over 350,000 platform enforcement actions. The company also said it blocks links to third-party websites hosting exploitative material and supports NCMEC’s Take It Down tool, designed to help prevent the spread of intimate images involving young people.
Concluding the blog, Meta said the work remains ongoing. “Our teams are constantly improving our defences – developing new technology, blocking violating links, and sharing intelligence across the industry – but we know there is more to do,” it said, adding that it will continue investing in resources to keep young people safe, strengthen its ad review processes and work with law enforcement to hold offenders accountable.
