Meta on notice? India weighs action over IT rules
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Live Events as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Addas a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel India is reportedly examining whether Meta complies with its obligations as an intermediary under Indian law or violates them as scrutiny of the social media giant's handling of deepfakes and other harmful content intensifies.According to PTI sources, the government has asked Meta to take specific measures on deepfakes, child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and unlabelled synthetically generated content, and will take a view on further legal action after reviewing the outcome of its meetings with the company.If Meta and other platforms decide what content is shown to users, it is akin to "publishing" and they must take responsibility for their actions.The Centre is also likely to call other social media platforms as it examines whether they meet the definition of "intermediaries" under Indian law, the report added.The development follows three days of meetings between government officials and Meta's global team, led by global affairs head Joel Kaplan.
While the first two days involved intensive questioning, Friday's discussions focused on the technical measures Meta proposes to address the government's concerns.Meta explained how its systems work and outlined solutions to tackle deepfakes, CSAM, bot accounts and other harmful content. The government has asked the company to implement specific measures and report back on their outcomes, with officials set to regularly follow up.A key concern is the continued circulation and virality of AI-generated harmful content even after it has been flagged. The government has also questioned why unlabelled AI-generated videos remain visible despite IT rules requiring synthetically generated content to be identified and labelled.Officials have asked Meta to strengthen human oversight of content moderation and improve its understanding of Indian languages and local nuances, sources told PTI.
Another meeting is expected next week.The government has maintained that its objective is not censorship but ensuring platforms comply with Indian law.The scrutiny intensified after Facebook temporarily restricted a post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, later restoring it and attributing the removal to an error by its AI-powered automated filters. Meta apologised over the incident.The government has since questioned Meta on deepfakes, CSAM, bot accounts, algorithmic bias, safeguards for prominent accounts and its content recommendation systems.Vaishnaw had also asked Meta whether it accepted payments to promote content that could potentially trigger public disorder, according to government sources. Officials
The BriefWire