Meta UNICEF funding ties questioned by India's NHRC member

His worry is a conflict of interest. UNICEF works on child protection, while Meta faces allegations over child sexual abuse material (CSAM) sold as ads on its platforms. Citing the advocacy group Legal Rights Observatory, Kanoongo said UNICEF is offering help to Indian authorities in the government's probe. He fears the organisation could end up serving Meta's interests, and urged the government not to let Meta use UNICEF as a "shield to evade accountability". He says he has also told the home affairs ministry, the external affairs ministry and the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre.

What is the Meta CSAM probe in India about?

It traces back to a BBC Eye documentary aired in July, which allegedly found Instagram running paid adverts promoting CSAM in India. Kanoongo says the NHRC has identified about 100 such instances.

The government then pulled up Meta and summoned its top leadership. It told the company to strengthen CSAM detection, add more human oversight of moderation, and improve safeguards for Indian languages and local contexts. Reports also said the government was weighing withdrawal of Meta's "safe harbour" protection under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, which would expose the company to greater legal liability for illegal content on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

What has Meta done so far?

In September, Meta agreed to report instances of child sexual abuse to local law enforcement. Days later it said it had introduced LLM-driven systems to spot "signposting" in ads, the coded hints predators use to dodge automated detection. The company also says it runs AI-driven sweeps to find missed material and uses "red-teaming" AI agents, which probe its own defences, to improve detection.

Kanoongo asked authorities to keep the alleged conflict of interest in mind during investigations and enforcement.