Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has apologised for the spread of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), deepfake content and errors in operating the platform, sources said on Wednesday (August 5). This comes after the company's global team met IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, following the government's recent summons over the removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's post on Facebook.
'Lot of money' was paid for boosting certain type of content
Government sources said it was made clear to the Meta team that they are not covered by the 'intermediary' definition. The social media platform selects who receives the content, and Safe harbour under the IT Act is not applicable, according to sources.
The Meta team admitted that a 'lot of money' was paid for boosting a certain type of content. "They apologised and regretted the mistake," the sources added.
Meta accepted the mistake that a lot of illegal content was promoted. "Paid promotion was carried out for a specific audience," it said.
The government sources said that the Meta team will be called again.
Parliament panel warned Meta
Earlier in the day, the Parliamentary Committee of Communications and Information Technology issued an ultimatum to Meta to apologise within three days for objectionable AI-generated content targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, women, and children, stressing that the tech giant will not receive "safe harbour protection" under the IT Act.
This comes after the government summoned Meta's top global executives after PM Modi's recent Facebook post, in which he addressed the country's youth and spoke on the paper leak issue, was restricted for a short while. Meta team, including Global Affairs officer Joel Kaplan, on Wednesday met IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and had a separate meeting with IT Secretary S Krishnan.
Committee chief and BJP MP Nishikant Dubey cleared the government's stance on Wednesday. "The case filed by Telangana Police against Meta involving AI-generated objectionable content against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, content related to children and women, and the case filed by the same Hyderabad Police against Google for financial fraud apps, will not receive Safe Harbour protection from the Government of India under IT Act 79, 79(1), and IT Rule 7. These social media platforms will have to comply with the Constitution," he had written in a post earlier.
Meta has also come under regulatory scrutiny over paid advertisements containing Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) on Instagram. Last month, the government issued a notice to the company over the issue.
The latest row stems from the temporary restriction of Prime Minister Modi's July 23 Facebook post, in which he addressed young people and reiterated the government's commitment to cracking down on paper leaks. Meta attributed the incident to an AI-driven technical error, apologised and restored the post, but MeitY termed the explanation "inadequate" and said the company must strengthen its automated systems.
Following the incident, Meta informed the government that posts from the prime minister and other prominent verified accounts would be subject to additional oversight, with multiple levels of review by senior company officials before moderation decisions are taken.
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