Govt to raise content removal, compliance concerns with Meta
The company, which owns Facebook, had said that the content was removed 'in error' and was restored on the platform
Senior executives from Meta are expected to meet government representatives on August 5 and 6 to discuss a range of issues, including compliance with Indian laws, content moderation practices, synthetic content and safeguards related to the removal of posts involving prominent personalities.
Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology S Krishnan on Tuesday said the upcoming discussions would focus on ensuring that digital platforms “comply with regulatory requirements and address concerns raised by the government”.
Separately, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has also instituted an inquiry into allegations that advertisements related to child sexual abuse material (CSAM) appeared on Meta platforms. The child rights body had issued a notice to Meta on July 3.
The government had summoned the social media giant after a video message of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was taken down briefly. The government had sought an explanation from Meta over the incident. The company had apologised.
“We want to ensure that compliance happens. There are a range of issues,” the Secretary said, adding that concerns related to the CSAM, monitoring of synthetically generated content and safeguards for content takedowns involving verified accounts of prominent individuals would be taken up during the meeting.
He said it would seek clarity from Meta on the measures being adopted to address these challenges and understand why certain issues had not been adequately resolved. “It is among the leading companies in the world, and we would like to understand what the challenges are,” he said.
On possible legal action against Meta, Krishnan said the ministry had already initiated steps in accordance with the law. “As far as the IT Ministry is concerned, we have already issued our notices and that is a legal step. There is a legal action process which is ongoing,” he said.
The government also highlighted concerns over user identity and privacy across messaging platforms, stating that the issue extended beyond WhatsApp usernames to all messaging applications.
“There are two dimensions to this. One is the possibility of impersonation that it creates. Another is the privacy aspect, as many people believe they would like to preserve their privacy under certain circumstances. We have to see how best we can balance both those concerns,” Krishnan said.
On Monday, Meta officials faced tough questions from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology over the removal of Modi’s video from Facebook. Committee Chairman and BJP MP Nishikant Dubey demanded an apology from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, holding the company accountable for the incident.
