New Delhi, IT Ministry officials will meet the Meta team later this week and assess the progress the social media company has made following multiple rounds of discussions on issues, including the reappearance of fake and harmful content even after being removed and tackling child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
Last week saw three straight days of meetings between Meta and the government, including intense questioning of the global team by IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
A technical round of discussions followed on Friday, during which the social media company detailed how it plans to address the Centre’s concerns over deepfakes, child sexual abuse material and unlabelled synthetically-generated content on its platforms. The government had asked Meta to take specific measures and report back on the outcomes.
Sources told PTI that the next meeting is scheduled later this week to assess progress following multiple rounds of discussions.
On Friday, one of the key issues discussed was the reappearance, continued circulation and virality of AI-generated harmful content, even after it has been flagged. The government had also questioned Meta on why AI-generated videos without labels continue to remain visible on its platforms despite the IT rules requiring synthetic content to be identified and labelled.
The government had also asked Meta to have greater human oversight in content moderation, with enhanced awareness and understanding of Indian languages, as well as local nuances.
Last week, IT Minister Vaishnaw questioned Meta’s team, led by global affairs head Joel Kaplan, on the content recommendation algorithms and the social media giant’s compliance with local laws on Wednesday and Thursday.
On Friday – Day 3 – the technical rounds delved deep into measures proposed by the company to address the government’s concerns.
Meta explained how its systems work and outlined how it plans to address the government’s concerns over deepfakes, child sexual abuse material and bot accounts. The company told the government that it has solutions to tackle these issues and detailed how they could be deployed.
Meanwhile, the Centre’s meetings with Meta has brought the focus on a key question – whether the social media giant’s recommendation systems and paid content promotion are compatible with its status as an intermediary, government sources had said adding the fundamental issue is whether the company complies with the provisions under the Information Technology Act or crosses into the role of a publisher by deciding “what content is shown to whom”.
The issue centres on whether a platform that actively decides what users see, can continue to claim intermediary status under the IT Act. The issue assumes significance because Section 79 of the IT Act grants intermediaries a “safe harbour” from liability for third-party content, subject to compliance with the provisions of the law and due diligence requirements.
Sources had said if Meta’s recommendation systems determine “what is shown to whom” and also “promote content for payment”, it raises the question of whether such functions are consistent with the legal definition of an intermediary.
Earlier, sources had said that the company admitted there were “serious issues” and assured it will take continuous action to resolve them.
The government will continue to press the company to undertake sustained measures, actions and improvements to address its various concerns, they had said.
Meta’s global team had met Vaishnaw and IT Secretary S Krishnan following the government’s summons over the temporary restriction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Facebook post recently.
On Thursday, the Meta team was asked if it is adhering to Indian laws, grilled on algorithmic issues, and guardrails that ensure constitutional and legal requirements are being met.
The social media company had assured that it is indeed serious and “working hard” to address concerns around deepfakes, child sexual abuse material, bots and synthetic content.
On Wednesday, Meta apologised for the temporary removal of Modi’s post, as well as for failures ranging from child sexual abuse content to deepfakes and boosting certain content by being paid “a lot of money”, government sources had earlier said.
The government had also served a notice to Meta over alleged child sexual abuse material in paid advertisements on Instagram, and the recent meetings have seen the US giant being questioned on issues, such as child sexual abuse material, deepfakes, safeguards for verified and prominent accounts, algorithmic bias, and compliance with Indian laws. PTI
