India Warns Meta Over Child Sexual Abuse Material
Meta is intensifying efforts to remove child sexual abuse material in India after the government threatened to revoke the company's safe-harbour legal protections.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of India has warned Meta that safe-harbour protections under Section 79 of the IT Act will be denied to entities failing to comply with legal requirements regarding illegal content. The warning follows a BBC Eye investigation that identified advertisements on Meta platforms promoting child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and directing users to Telegram channels.
In response to a notice from the ministry, Meta is intensifying efforts to identify and filter CSAM on Facebook and Instagram. The Indian government has requested a report on takedown compliance and the demographics of boosted content. During meetings between Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and a Meta delegation led by Global Affairs Head Joel Kaplan, officials emphasized that content moderation must account for India's specific linguistic and cultural contexts rather than relying on global standards. The ministry specifically urged Meta to hire regional language speakers to improve moderation.
Beyond CSAM, the government demanded that Meta clearly label AI-generated synthetic content to protect user rights. The discussions also addressed the temporary removal of a Facebook reel featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which Meta attributed to an automated system error.
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