Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Apologises to India Over CSAM and Content Issues

Mark zuckerberg, CEO, Meta apologises to India

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly sent his apologies to the central government on Wednesday for CSAM (child sexual abuse material), deepfake content, and errors in operating the platform. The IT giant admitted that they were paid a "lot of money" for boosting certain type of content, as per PTI sources. The sources also said that Meta was told that its eligibility for safe-harbour protection under the IT Act could be questioned, as its platforms actively select and distribute content to users rather than merely hosting third-party content. Under Section 79, safe-harbour protection is subject to conditions on how an intermediary handles and distributes such content. The development comes as senior Meta executives met government officials to discuss compliance with Indian laws, content moderation, child sexual CSAM and safeguards around AI-generated content. MeitY secretary S Krishnan said Meta executives, including Joel Kaplan, the company's head of public policy, met government officials on Wednesday and are set to meet again on Thursday. Krishnan said the government wants Meta to explain what measures it has taken to tackle CSAM on its platforms and how effectively it is monitoring synthetically generated content. “We want to ensure that compliance happens. There are a range of issues,” Krishnan said. He added that the government wants to understand the measures being taken to address CSAM and the extent to which AI-generated content is being monitored.

The government has also flagged the removal of content posted by verified accounts belonging to prominent personalities after a video of PM Modi was briefly removed from Facebook. The video, in which PM Modi addressed students and Gen Z on examination controversies and action against paper leaks, was removed from Facebook for around five to six hours before being restored. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Electronics and Information Technology had taken a “very serious” view of the incident and warned that Meta could lose its safe-harbour protection under Section 79(3) of the Information Technology Act if Zuckerberg failed to apologise within three days last week. Krishnan said such takedowns should be backed by stronger safeguards, particularly when they involve accounts of prominent public figures.