Meta failed to remove hundreds of advertisements containing child sexual abuse material from Facebook and Instagram this year, with some using images of real children, according to a nonprofit report. Lawmakers are planning investigations into the platform's enforcement failures.
Meta Platforms ran more than 300 advertisements containing suspected child sexual abuse material across Instagram and Facebook in 2024, according to a report from the Tech Transparency Project released Tuesday.
The nonprofit organization found that approximately 350 ads depicting child sexual abuse—some generated using artificial intelligence and others featuring real children—evaded Meta's content moderation systems. Among the images used were photos of real minors, including a member of a European royal family, which were manipulated to create the illegal content.
The discovery represents a significant failure in Meta's ability to detect and remove content depicting child exploitation, despite the company's stated commitments to child safety. Meta has implemented various automated detection systems and human moderation teams to identify such material, yet the scale of missed content suggests substantial gaps in these protections.
The report comes amid ongoing scrutiny of tech platforms' handling of child safety issues. Meta has faced previous criticism for inadequate responses to child exploitation content, though the company has consistently maintained that child safety is a priority and that it works with law enforcement and organizations like the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
Lawmakers indicated they plan to investigate Meta's failures to catch the ads, signaling potential regulatory action or legislation targeting platform accountability. The investigation could examine both Meta's technical capabilities and the adequacy of its moderation resources.
The Tech Transparency Project's findings underscore the ongoing challenge platforms face in balancing scale with safety. Meta operates billions of pieces of content daily across its platforms, making comprehensive human review impossible. However, automated detection systems continue to show limitations in identifying manipulated and AI-generated abuse material.
Meta has not yet released a detailed response to the nonprofit's findings.
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