Govt, Meta to continue talks on content moderation policies after PM Modi reel row

MeitY officials said discussions with Meta will focus on content moderation policies, algorithms and compliance systems after PM Modi’s Facebook Reel takedown.

The Union government will continue discussions with Meta’s technical team over the next three to four days on the company’s content moderation policies, algorithms, and compliance mechanisms, after the temporary takedown of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Facebook reel raised concerns within the government, a senior official from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said.

This comes after Meta’s chief global affairs officer Joel Kaplan met and apologised to Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday for the post made by Modi becoming inaccessible on the platform for around five hours on July 28.

“I apologised to the minister on behalf of Meta for error restricting PM Modi’s post,” a statement from Meta cited Kaplan as saying.

According to a senior MeitY official who asked not to be named, the Meta delegation – in its meeting with Vaishnaw at the Rail Bhawan on Thursday --- provided a technical explanation of how Modi’s Reel was taken down and presented system logs related to the incident. On Wednesday, the company explained that its automated systems had incorrectly matched the Reel with another video, leading to the temporary restriction. A senior official said the government was satisfied with Meta’s explanation of the technical error.

“We need to understand if their algorithms and compliance mechanisms have sufficient checks and balances. Are they putting enough guardrails to ensure that they are operating within the constitutional and legal limits in India? They cannot run their platforms in India as per the US Constitution or European Constitution. All we want is that the law of the land is being followed,” one senior official said, requesting anonymity.

Meta did not respond to requests for comment on the discussions.

Officials said Kaplan is not expected to participate in the technical discussions, though he may be called for future meetings if required.

The delegation included Kaplan, Neil Potts, Meta’s vice-president for public policy, Meredith Carden, director for global affairs, and Rafael Frankel, head of Asia-Pacific public policy, along with Indian executives.

The issue of WhatsApp usernames, which Meta plans to roll out globally by the end of the year, did not come up during Wednesday’s meeting but could be discussed in the coming days, an official said. The Centre previously raised concerns that allowing users to communicate using usernames instead of phone numbers could increase the risk of impersonation, fraud, and cybercrime, while making it harder for law enforcement agencies to identify users during investigations.

The meetings and Meta’s apology follow unease within the government and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the action on Modi’s post, which occurred days after a student protest in New Delhi that culminated in the resignation of former education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who heads the parliamentary committee on IT, said Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg had three days to apologise for the removal of PM Modi’s video and threatened to withdraw statutory immunity if it was not done.