New Delhi: Senior officials from the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the central government are scheduled to convene a high-level meeting on Wednesday afternoon with Meta’s global executive delegation. The meeting, set to take place around 12:30 PM in New Delhi, will be led by Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan, alongside Head of Asia Public Policy Rafael Frankel and senior executive Aman Jain. The direct intervention comes amid escalating friction between Indian regulatory authorities and the social media conglomerate regarding platform governance, regulatory compliance, and digital safety standards.
A central agenda item for the meeting involves the stringent enforcement of safeguards against Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) and Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM) across Meta’s platforms, including Instagram and Facebook. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) previously issued a formal notice to Meta on July 3, instituting a detailed inquiry into allegations that explicit and abusive content appeared alongside paid advertisements on its social channels. Government officials noted that the bilateral discussions will evaluate Meta’s technical measures to detect synthetically generated deepfakes, eradicate illegal material involving women and children, and uphold complete data privacy and user identification protocols across all messaging applications.
The high-level engagement follows a major diplomatic and technical row triggered after a video message posted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi—addressing Indian youth on competitive examination reforms—was briefly restricted and removed by Facebook’s automated algorithms. Although Meta attributed the incident to an automated content filter technical error and offered a formal apology, the IT Ministry deemed the explanation inadequate. The government maintains that automated systems of leading technology firms must demonstrate operational reliability, particularly regarding verified high-profile accounts, national security, and public order.
The executive dialogue coincides with heightened legislative pressure from Parliament. On Monday, representatives from Meta, Google, X, and YouTube appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, chaired by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey. Dubey publicly demanded a personal apology from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg over the improper moderation of the Prime Minister’s post, warning that the parliamentary panel unanimously recommended withdrawing “safe harbour” legal immunity under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act if platforms fail to strictly comply with Indian laws and ensure full accountability.
