Meta global team meets top IT ministry officials on govt summons over PM's FB post takedown
Top Meta executives, including Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan, met IT Secretary S Krishnan and other senior officials of MeitY in a discussion that lasted 45 minutes.
The global team from Meta met with senior officials from India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in response to a government summons, following the temporary removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's post on Facebook. The concerns raised by the government included wrongful actions concerning the post and the platform's failure to effectively curb child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on Instagram.
The meeting with IT Secretary S Krishnan and other MeitY officials lasted 45 minutes and is expected to continue later with Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. The government summoned Meta's top executives after the recent restriction of Modi's Facebook post, which addressed Indian youth and promised stringent action against paper leaks.
Initially, Meta attributed the incident to a technical glitch and apologized, but MeitY deemed the explanation "inadequate". The company later stated that the content was removed "in error" and restored afterwards. Meta has also faced regulatory scrutiny over the CSAM issue on Instagram. The meeting aims to address various issues, including CSAM and the use of synthetic information, as well as concerns related to prominent personalities' verified accounts and the safeguards needed for content removal.
Government sources have emphasized that the issue extends beyond technical aspects to include "national security and public order".
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