Meta must follow Indian laws, not just global policies: Government
What's the story
The Indian government has made it clear that Meta's platforms must adhere to Indian laws and not just the company's global policies. This clarification comes after a meeting between Meta's technical team and officials from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). The government emphasized that while some concerns remain, the main goal of recent discussions with Meta is to ensure its guidelines and content policies are in line with Indian law.
Cultural context
Need for local input and understanding
Government sources have stressed that India's cultural context is often not fully understood by teams based outside the country.
They believe Meta needs more local input, including a better understanding of Indian languages and cultural nuances, to moderate content effectively.
The government also reiterated its zero tolerance policy toward Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), saying that allowing such material on the platform is a serious violation of rules.
Action required
Expectations for proactive measures against CSAM
The government has called on Meta to take stronger, more proactive measures against CSAM. They expect concrete action from the company, not just assurances.
On the issue of deepfakes involving prominent personalities, sources said content posted from authorized or verified handles should not be misidentified as deepfakes.
They stressed that such sensitive cases can't be left entirely to automated detection systems and called for a "human-in-the-loop" mechanism for proper review before any takedown action.
Content resurfacing
Concerns over content reappearance and recommendation issues
Officials have raised concerns over the repeated reappearance of material already identified and removed as deepfakes.
Meta has been asked to clarify what concrete steps it is taking to prevent such content from resurfacing after removal.
The government also sought clarity on Meta's recommendation and virality algorithms, questioning why users are frequently shown content unrelated to their stated interests.
This indicates potential flaws in the recommendation system that need addressing.