Meta must comply with Indian law, not merely global policies: Centre

New Delhi: Meta's platforms must comply with Indian law, as determined by government sources, according to ANI reports. This follows a series of meetings between Meta and India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). Officials clarified that it would be inaccurate to say the government has directed Meta to overhaul its algorithm.

The focus is on aligning Meta's content policies, platform guidelines, and moderation systems with Indian law. Concerns remain, but discussions aim to secure concrete changes from the company. India's cultural context is not always fully understood by Meta's teams, indicating a need for greater local input, including stronger understanding of Indian languages and cultural nuances.

The government emphasized zero tolerance for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and stressed the necessity of stronger measures to address deepfakes, synthetic content, and other concerns. Meta's recommendation and virality algorithms were also scrutinized during the meetings, with questions raised about users being shown unrelated content and suspicious amplification of synthetic content.

The government emphasized that once flagged, such content should not be recommended further or resurface repeatedly.