Instagram Ads Promoted Escort Services Linking to Telegram
A recent chart presented by Meta during its ongoing antitrust trial with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sparked widespread discussion about the evolving nature of social media. (Image credit social media)
Meta Removes Paid Ads for Alleged Global Escort Networks, Citing Violations of Human Exploitation and Sexual Solicitation Policies
By TRH Global Affairs Desk
NEW DELHI, July 9, 2025—A CBS News investigation has revealed that Meta’s Instagram platform ran paid advertisements promoting escort services and sex work—despite clear violations of Meta’s policies on adult content and human exploitation. The ads directed users to Telegram channels where commercial sexual services were offered.
Meta has since taken action, removing the offending ads and accounts. Spokesperson Erin Logan told CBS News that the company had banned both the Instagram accounts and their corresponding ad accounts, citing breaches of Meta’s human exploitation and adult sexual solicitation policies.
The investigation uncovered multiple Instagram Story ads that encouraged users to “meet women,” and included URLs linking directly to Telegram. “One of the most prominent accounts promoting such ads was called Royal Garden Club, a self-described “premium dating agency for wealthy men,” with more than 100,000 followers,” said CBS News in a report.
Royal Garden Club’s Telegram channel advertised itself as a “full-service escort agency” offering access to “over 7,000 girls worldwide for fun dates, relationships and hot sex.” The channel also offered a so-called “VIP lifetime” package for $8,000, promising access to “top models, bloggers, actresses, athletes, magazine cover girls, [and] adult stars,” added the report.
Though the Royal Garden Club claims to operate legally and is registered as R GARDEN LLP in the United Kingdom, CBS News reviewed U.K. business records confirming its registration to a London address. “However, when reached on Telegram, a channel moderator declined to comment on how the service was able to run ads on Instagram or clarify the nature of their offerings,” said the US-based media house in its report.
Another advertisement found by CBS News was linked to an account called men.s_dreams, which had minimal content and few followers. This ad also included a Telegram link, redirecting to a channel named “Meeting with Girls”, which offered profiles of women alongside their nationalities and invited users to contact moderators for inquiries about “girls, sex or anything.”
CBS News could not verify the authenticity of the women’s identities or whether their images had been used with consent.
Meta’s content policy explicitly bans any content that facilitates or profits from commercial sexual activity. “As per its human exploitation rules, any content involving third-party actors recruiting or benefiting from sexual activity is prohibited,” added the report.
Meta’s swift takedown came after the CBS inquiry but also highlights ongoing challenges the platform faces in preemptively filtering such content.
The incident adds to a growing list of controversies surrounding Meta’s struggle with adult content and exploitation-related advertising. Just weeks earlier, CBS News exposed hundreds of paid ads promoting so-called “nudify” apps—AI tools capable of generating deepfake, sexually explicit images of real people. These tools, including the app “CrushAI,” were targeted mostly at male users aged 18–65 in the U.S. and EU.
“In response, Meta filed a lawsuit in Hong Kong in late June against Joy Timeline HK Limited, the company behind CrushAI, in an effort to block further advertising of the app on its platforms,” added the report.
The deeper concern emerging from CBS’s reporting is the continued abuse of Meta’s paid ad infrastructure by actors promoting adult content and sexual exploitation, often disguised as dating or lifestyle services.
Telegram, meanwhile, is facing renewed scrutiny for its hands-off content moderation policies. Its current policy only prohibits “illegal pornographic content” on public channels and activities deemed illegal in most countries. CBS News has reached out to Telegram for clarification on whether the Royal Garden Club and similar channels violate these standards, but no response has been reported so far.
While Meta claims a “zero-tolerance” approach to such violations, the repeated presence of these ads raises questions about the effectiveness and enforcement of its ad review systems.
(This report is based on findings by CBS News. Meta, Telegram, and other involved parties were contacted for comment as part of the original investigation.)
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