The government sources said that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Saturday told Meta to revamp its algorithms and provide a compliance roadmap to fight deepfakes, propaganda, and other manipulated or illegal content on its platforms. The government officials also asked Meta to tighten content moderation, act faster on takedown requests from authorised agencies, follow data-localisation requirements, and work more closely with government to speed up detection and removal of deepfakes, morphed images, and misleading posts.
Directives came after Meta admitted gaps in its current systems
"The directive came after recent talks in which Meta admitted gaps in its current systems and laid out technical steps to tackle deepfakes and synthetic content. In a Friday meeting with MeitY officials, Meta's technical team walked through how it currently handles harmful content online. Officials pushed for specific algorithmic changes to limit the spread of propaganda, deepfakes, and manipulated media. Both sides agreed to continue discussions, with another meeting expected next week,” the government sources said.
While holding the meeting with MeitY officials, Meta's technical team explained the company's existing mechanisms for identifying and dealing with misleading content on its platforms. The government officials, however, wanted more specific measures to prevent algorithms from amplifying deepfakes, propaganda and other manipulated content.
Centre asks Meta to tighten its content moderation systems
The Central government has asked Meta to tighten its content moderation systems and make them more responsive to requests from authorised government agencies for removal of unlawful content. They have also pressed the company to speed up the detection and takedown of deepfakes, morphed images and misleading posts, reported news agency ANI.
The government sources said that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Saturday told Meta to revamp its algorithms and provide a compliance roadmap to fight deepfakes, propaganda, and other manipulated or illegal content on its platforms.
The government officials also asked Meta to tighten content moderation, act faster on takedown requests from authorised agencies, follow data-localisation requirements, and work more closely with government to speed up detection and removal of deepfakes, morphed images, and misleading posts.
"The directive came after recent talks in which Meta admitted gaps in its current systems and laid out technical steps to tackle deepfakes and synthetic content. In a Friday meeting with MeitY officials, Meta's technical team walked through how it currently handles harmful content online. Officials pushed for specific algorithmic changes to limit the spread of propaganda, deepfakes, and manipulated media. Both sides agreed to continue discussions, with another meeting expected next week,” the government sources said.
Meta explains company's existing mechanisms for identifying misleading content
While holding the meeting with MeitY officials, Meta's technical team explained the company's existing mechanisms for identifying and dealing with misleading content on its platforms. The government officials, however, wanted more specific measures to prevent algorithms from amplifying deepfakes, propaganda and other manipulated content.
The Central government has asked Meta to tighten its content moderation systems and make them more responsive to requests from authorised government agencies for removal of unlawful content. They have also pressed the company to speed up the detection and takedown of deepfakes, morphed images and misleading posts, reported news agency ANI.
As per the government sources, Meta has also been asked to comply with India's data-localisation requirements and work more closely with government agencies to improve the identification and removal of harmful content. These latest discussions come after a series of meetings between the government and Meta over the handling of harmful and illegal content on its platforms.
During the meeting, Meta acknowledged gaps in its existing systems and outlined technical measures it could take to tackle deepfakes and other forms of synthetic content, the sources said. Now both sides have agreed to continue the discussions, with another meeting expected next week.
Moreover, the government's scrutiny of Meta has intensified in recent days over concerns related to deepfakes, Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) and other harmful content on its platforms. Earlier, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologised over errors related to CSAM and deepfake content on the company's platforms after concerns were raised by the Indian government and the latest discussions also come as India has tightened its regulatory framework for synthetically generated content, including deepfakes.
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