Govt-Meta meeting later this week to assess progress after multiple rounds of talks

Government officials will convene with Meta representatives later this week to evaluate the advancements made by the social media company following numerous rounds of discussions on contentious issues. Last week witnessed three consecutive days of meetings between Meta and the government, accompanied by rigorous inquiries from IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

A subsequent technical round of talks on Friday saw Meta outline its strategies to address the Center's concerns regarding deepfakes, child sexual abuse material, and unlabelled synthetic content on its platforms. The government had demanded specific actions from Meta and a subsequent report on their outcomes.

Sources revealed that the upcoming meeting aims to assess the progress made since multiple rounds of dialogue. On Friday, a significant topic of conversation revolved around the persistent presence and virality of AI-generated harmful content, despite being flagged. The government questioned Meta about its visibility of AI-generated videos lacking labels, in accordance with IT rules mandating the identification and labeling of synthetic content.

The IT Minister further probed Meta's team, led by Joel Kaplan, on the content recommendation algorithms and the platform's compliance with local laws. On Friday, they delved into technical measures proposed by the company to address the government's apprehensions. Meta explained its systems and provided insights on how it plans to tackle deepfakes, child sexual abuse material, and bot accounts. The company asserted it possesses solutions to these issues and elaborated on their deployment.

The government's meetings with Meta have sparked a debate on whether the social media giant's recommendation systems and paid content promotion align with its intermediary status under the Information Technology Act. Section 79 of the IT Act provides intermediaries with a 'safe harbor' from liability for third-party content, provided they comply with provisions and adhere to due diligence requirements.

Sources suggested that if Meta's recommendation systems determine what users see and promote content for payment, it raises concerns about the compatibility of these functions with the legal definition of an intermediary.

Earlier, Meta acknowledged the existence of "serious issues" and committed to continuous efforts to resolve them. The government will persist in urging the company to undertake sustained measures and improvements, addressing its various concerns. Meta's global team had met with Vaishnaw and IT Secretary S Krishnan following the government's summons over the temporary restriction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Facebook post.

The social media company apologized for the removal of Modi's post and failures related to child sexual abuse content, deepfakes, and paid content promotion.