New Delhi: Government sources clarified on Sunday that Meta’s platforms operating in India must be governed strictly by domestic laws rather than solely relying on the company’s global policies. Officials countered initial reports, noting it would be factually inaccurate to state that the government had directed Meta to completely overhaul its core algorithm. Instead, the primary objective of recent engagements with the social media giant is to ensure its platform guidelines and content moderation practices are fully aligned with Indian constitutional and statutory requirements.
Highlighting moderation challenges, sources pointed out that overseas teams often lack an understanding of India’s cultural context. Consequently, Meta has been asked to integrate greater local input, including enhanced human oversight equipped with a stronger grasp of Indian languages and regional nuances. On the issue of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), government officials reiterated a zero-tolerance policy, emphasizing that allowing such material to remain online constitutes a severe regulatory violation requiring proactive and concrete measures rather than verbal assurances.
Regarding deepfakes and AI-generated media, officials emphasized that content posted from verified handles should not be misidentified or mistakenly removed by automated tools. They called for a robust human-in-the-loop mechanism to review sensitive cases before taking enforcement action. Concerns were also raised about the repeated reappearance of synthetic content after removal and the role of recommendation algorithms in amplifying unlabelled deepfakes, with officials demanding clear steps to prevent flagged material from resurfacing or being recommended to users. The clarifications follow technical discussions between Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) officials and Meta’s technical team, with additional rounds of talks scheduled for the coming week.
