The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has asked Meta to revamp its algorithms and provide a compliance roadmap to curb the spread of deepfakes, propaganda and other manipulated or illegal content across its platforms, according to government sources. The government has sought these specific changes to Meta’s algorithms as part of efforts to strengthen the detection and removal of harmful and manipulated content, the sources said. MeitY officials have also asked the company to strengthen its content moderation systems, act faster on takedown requests received from authorised government agencies and comply with data localisation requirements. The government has further sought closer coordination with Meta to speed up the detection and removal of deepfakes, morphed images and misleading posts, according to the sources.
The directions followed a meeting between Meta’s technical team and MeitY officials on Friday, during which the company explained how its existing systems identify and handle harmful content online. Government officials, however, pushed for specific algorithmic changes aimed at restricting the spread of what they described as propaganda, deepfakes and manipulated media on Meta’s platforms. The latest discussions follow a series of meetings between the government and Meta over the handling of harmful and illegal content on its platforms.
