Meta unveils new AI safeguards against child sexual exploitation

Meta has unveiled new AI-powered measures to combat child sexual exploitation on Facebook and Instagram. The company said it acted against 5.3 million pieces of such content in India between January and June, with over 98 per cent detected proactively

New Delhi: Meta on Wednesday announced a series of new AI-powered measures aimed at strengthening its fight against child sexual exploitation on Facebook and Instagram, as the company revealed that it took action against 5.3 million pieces of child sexual exploitation content in India during the first six months of 2026.

The social media giant said more than 98 per cent of the violative content removed in India between January and June this year was proactively detected by its systems before being reported by users.

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“Between January to June 2026, we actioned 5.3 million pieces of child sexual exploitation content on Facebook and Instagram in India, with over 98 per cent found and proactively addressed before anyone reported it,” the tech giant said.

Globally, Meta said it actioned 33.2 million pieces of child sexual exploitation content across Facebook and Instagram during the same period, with over 97 per cent identified proactively.

“Globally between January to June 2026, we actioned 33.2 million pieces of child sexual exploitation content from Facebook and Instagram, over 97 per cent found and proactively addressed before anyone reported it,” it added.

According to the company, online predators are increasingly using sophisticated tactics to evade detection, including advertisements that appear harmless but covertly direct users to illegal content hosted outside Meta’s platforms.

In response, the company has upgraded its ad review systems and deployed additional artificial intelligence tools to identify such activity more effectively.

Meta said the new safeguards include large language model (LLM)-based detection systems designed to identify “signposting” content that may appear benign but is suspected of directing users to child sexual exploitation material or related harmful activities.

The company has also enhanced its ability to assess the destination of advertisements, enabling it to block links leading to violative content and take action against the accounts responsible.

“Once a link is blocked, we search for and then delete other content – such as ads, posts or comments – that contain the link. We take steps to prevent people from posting content containing a blocked link on Facebook, Instagram and Threads, and ads containing blocked links would be rejected at upload,” Meta said in its official statement.