Meta’s top global executives met Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday for a second straight day, signalling that the Centre has intensified its scrutiny of the social media giant over temporary restriction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Facebook post recently, according to official sources.
Questions on whether the company is following the law of the land, content moderation practices, algorithmic systems and legal compliance have been tabled in discussions with the visiting team.
“Does Meta actually operate within the bounds of Indian law? We are talking to the company on its content-ranking algorithms, the robustness of its compliance architecture, and whether its safeguards meet the country’s constitutional and legal standards,” an official said.
The fresh engagement comes a day after a high-level Meta delegation, led by Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan, had apologised to the government on behalf of Mark Zuckerberg over the removal of the Prime Minister’s Facebook post as well as broader concerns related to child sexual abuse material (CSAM), deepfakes and the promotion of certain categories of content.
Sources said Meta’s technical executives have been asked to remain in India for further discussions with MeitY officials following the ministerial meeting, signalling that the government’s review of the company’s systems is ongoing.
The company has acknowledged lapses in handling illegal content and content moderation, including instances where paid promotions amplified certain categories of content. Officials also conveyed that the government is examining whether Meta’s role in selecting and amplifying content could affect the safe harbour protections available to intermediaries under the Information Technology Act.
The temporary removal of Prime Minister’s video on action against paper leaks was earlier attributed to a technical error by Meta. The company subsequently restored the post after apologising for the incident.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology Nishikant Dubey welcomed the apology, describing it as a ‘victory’ for India’s Constitution, Parliament and legal framework. He said companies operating in India must comply with Indian laws and had earlier warned that failure to do so could invite reconsideration of intermediary protections.
Meanwhile, the indications so far have been that the conversations have broadened from the incident involving the Prime Minister’s post to Meta’s overall compliance architecture, platform governance and content recommendation systems. The engagement with the company’s technical teams is expected to continue.