Most serious crime: Court upholds Insta account ban over nude content sent to minor

Nagpur,UPDATED: Jun 25, 2026 21:28 IST

The Bombay High Court has refused to grant relief to a man whose Instagram account was permanently suspended for sending nude content to a minor, saying online child sexual exploitation is rising and has become one of the most serious forms of cyber-enabled crime.

Upholding the action taken by Meta-owned Instagram, the court said social media platforms have a responsibility to ensure their services are not misused to facilitate or promote child exploitation. It said Meta's zero-tolerance policy was a necessary and proportionate response to a grave form of online abuse.

In its June 19 order, a copy of which was made available on Thursday, a bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Raj Wakode said, "Online child sexual exploitation is increasing day by day. Online child sexual exploitation has emerged as one of the most serious forms of cyber-enabled crime, causing irreversible physical, psychological and emotional harm to children."

The court added that strict adherence to such policies is not only justified but essential to ensure children's safety and prevent the misuse of social media platforms for criminal purposes.

The man had moved the High Court after Meta permanently suspended his Instagram account for multiple violations of community standards, including child sexual exploitation, abuse and nudity. He approached the court after failing to get relief from the Grievance Appellate Committee formed under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

His advocate, Priti Badwaik Pendke, argued that he was not given an opportunity to correct his mistake and that permanent suspension of the account was too harsh. But the bench said the evidence showed there was no dispute that the content he had allegedly sent to another social media user was sent to a minor, and that this amounted to child sexual exploitation.

The court said, "As per Meta policy, it is permissible to suspend a person's Instagram account if the violation was severe and even if it happened only once." Commending the policy, it said Meta treats content involving child exploitation, abuse and endangerment as one of the most serious violations of its Community Standards and has adopted a strict zero-tolerance approach.

Unlike ordinary policy violations that may attract warnings, content involving child sexual exploitation may lead to immediate and permanent suspension of an account, the court said. It added that Meta can remove the offending content, permanently disable the accounts involved and report the matter to the competent law enforcement authorities whenever legally required.

Dismissing the petition, the high court said no illegality had been committed by Meta in permanently suspending the man's Instagram account, and reaffirmed the need for strict enforcement against online child sexual exploitation.

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