Meta's global team will be 'categorically' questioned on issues around algorithmic bias, how their algorithm operates, and the company's role in public order when they appear before government officials, according to Business Standard sources. The global team, which has been summoned after Meta restricted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Facebook post, is expected to appear sometime in the middle of next week. Sources said Meta's global team will also appear before a parliamentary panel as part of the comprehensive inquiry into the incident. The move assumes significance as the government earlier this week summoned a top Meta executive after Modi's recent post addressing India's youth and promising stringent measures against paper leaks was briefly restricted on Facebook. While the US-headquartered social media giant attributed the incident to a technical glitch and apologised, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) found the explanation 'inadequate'.
Meta India's head, along with several Facebook and Instagram users, has been booked by the Hyderabad police over allegedly morphed and objectionable content targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to The Times of India. Cases were registered following complaints by BJP supporters who alleged that manipulated videos and images of PM Modi were circulating on social media. The complaints relate to content circulated during student protests led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) over the Neet paper leak. According to the report, the police have invoked relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology (IT) Act, and named operators of identified accounts and Meta's India head as co-accused. One of the complainants, Telangana BJP social media core committee member T Saikiran Goud, submitted 20 Facebook and Instagram links to the police, seeking action against Meta for allegedly hosting the content. The police said they were tracing the operators behind the social media accounts that posted the content, and by Thursday evening, all the links cited in the complaints had become inactive.
Meta has informed the IT Ministry that posts by the Prime Minister and prominent accounts will have additional oversight on the platform and that multiple checks will take place at levels of senior company officials, according to sources. The social media giant outlined the specifics of enhanced and rigorous safeguards it has now implemented for content posted by the Prime Minister and other prominent accounts in a communication to the government. Meta team is likely to meet government officials later this week or early next week over the Prime Minister's Facebook post issue, sources added. Meta has informed the government that, starting July 28, it has implemented a new protocol aimed at preventing similar incidents. This development comes after the IT Ministry summoned Meta's global head of public policy over the temporary blocking of PM Modi's Facebook video, with the ministry having initially summoned Meta's global head of public policy, but the scope now expanded to include Instagram leadership as well.
Meta has apologised to India after PM Narendra Modi's Facebook video was briefly blocked due to a technical glitch. According to sources familiar with the matter, 'The content was removed in error and has since been restored,' as confirmed by a Meta spokesperson. The company has now officially attributed the removal to a 'technical glitch' rather than any deliberate action, marking a shift from initial reports of legal restrictions. Meta officials attributed the error to AI-powered automated content filters that were reviewing shared posts and subsequent content that circulated following the original post by the Prime Minister. The video had been posted on July 23, in which the Prime Minister had said that 'stricter action against paper leaks will be announced at tomorrow's Cabinet meeting'. The controversy surrounds a video message that PM Modi shared addressing the youth amid the raging protests over the NEET paper leak controversy, where he addressed them as 'friends' and acknowledged the gravity of the issue.
IT Secretary S Krishnan on Tuesday said that while Meta has apologised and admitted that they have made a mistake, the Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity) is not happy with the explanation given and is seeking more details from the company. 'It is good that they have apologised and admitted what they did was a mistake. But we are not happy with the explanation...it is not adequate, and we are seeking more details,' Krishnan had said. IT Ministry sources had said on Tuesday that Meta's explanation to the government, citing a technical glitch in the automated content filters, was 'not reasonable', and that the matter was 'not settled and done'**. They further said that if indeed a glitch in the automated system caused the error, then Meta, being a technology company, must hasten to improve its tools. The government is taking the matter seriously and is examining both Meta's explanation and the circumstances that led to the video's removal.
Separately, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology has summoned senior executives from Meta, X, Snapchat and Google to appear at 4 pm on August 3 to explain how they implement policies on their platforms to ensure the digital privacy of women, children and all other users. According to Business Standard, the Standing Committee, headed by Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Nishikant Dubey from Godda, will also question these platforms on how they ensure compliance with the government's blocking orders. This development comes as Meta faces broader regulatory scrutiny beyond the PM Modi incident. In addition, the government is examining the responses of peer-to-peer messaging platforms on the issue of usernames, Krishnan said, indicating that the regulatory scrutiny extends beyond the immediate PM Modi incident. Sources said that when rules and laws are violated, liabilities will arise, with government sources citing studies indicating that excessive use of social media and digital media can adversely affect the cognitive health and mental well-being of children and adults.
In his late night video message, PM Modi assured that the government will bring in more strict actions against paper leaks. The Prime Minister said that 'I know that paper leak is not an ordinary issue. It is very painful for lakh of students and their guardians,' and emphasized that 'What is more important to prevent exam irregularities?' His message came amid massive nationwide protests at the time against alleged irregularities in the NEET UG examination. The video was PM Modi's assurance that the Union Cabinet will discuss these stringent measures in Parliament and the government will try to get the Bill passed. The address had garnered millions of views before access to the video was briefly restricted on Facebook in the early hours of Tuesday.
