Meta’s global team to meet MeitY on Aug 5-6 over PM Modi video row

Meta’s global team is set to meet officials from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on August 5 and 6, following a controversy over the temporary restriction of a video posted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Facebook.

The meeting is expected to focus on the incident involving the Prime Minister’s post, along with wider concerns around content moderation, artificial intelligence-generated content, safeguards for verified accounts and the circulation of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on digital platforms.

The controversy emerged after a video posted by PM Modi on Facebook on July 23 was temporarily unavailable to users in India. The content was later restored, with Meta attributing the restriction to an error in its content moderation systems.

The incident prompted the government to seek further clarification from the social media company over its moderation mechanisms, particularly the safeguards in place for verified and high-profile accounts. MeitY subsequently called Meta’s global representatives for discussions on the matter.

The upcoming meeting is also expected to examine Meta’s broader content governance systems in India. With generative AI making it easier to create manipulated images, videos and other synthetic content, the government is likely to discuss the platform’s mechanisms for identifying and dealing with AI-generated misinformation and potentially harmful material.

The detection and removal of CSAM is also expected to be part of the discussions, including the measures deployed by Meta to identify such material and prevent its circulation across its platforms.

Meta, along with other major technology platforms including Google, X and Snapchat, has also faced questions from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology over the regulation of social and digital media. The August 5-6 discussions are expected to allow MeitY to examine Meta’s moderation processes and seek further clarity on how the company plans to prevent similar incidents involving verified accounts while strengthening safeguards against harmful and AI-generated content.