Govt. To Question Meta Team On Its Algorithm Bias, Maintenance Of Public Order
Sources further said that the team of the US-headquartered social media giant is expected sometime in the middle of next week and they will also appear before a parliamentary panel in New Delhi. The move comes after the government earlier this week summoned a top Meta executive after Modi’s recent post, addressing India's youth and promising stringent measures against paper leaks, was briefly restricted on Facebook
New Delhi: After summoning the team Meta — the global social media giant, which removed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Facebook post for brief period, the government on Friday said that it would question the team on its algorithm bias and maintaining public order. The company’s global team, however, needs to clarify on issues related to the role in public order, according to the sources.
Sources further said that the team of the US-headquartered social media giant is expected sometime in the middle of next week and they will also appear before a parliamentary panel in New Delhi. The move comes after the government earlier this week summoned a top Meta executive after Modi’s recent post, addressing India's youth and promising stringent measures against paper leaks, was briefly restricted on Facebook.
At the same time some government sources said that the impact of social media on society is well documented, citing studies indicating that excessive use of social media and digital media can adversely affect the cognitive health and mental well-being of children and adults. “Keeping all these aspects in mind, steps that are needed will be taken,” they said, asserting that the government is serious about these issues.
While Meta attributed the incident to a technical glitch and apologised later, the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) remained ‘adamant’ and found the explanation ‘inadequate’. In the aftermath of the issue, Meta informed the IT ministry that posts by the prime minister and select prominent accounts will be subject to additional oversight on the platform, with multiple levels of checks involving senior company officials.
Meta wrote to the government outlining the specifics of enhanced and rigorous safeguards it implemented for content posted by Modi and other prominent accounts. It is noted to mention that Hyderabad Cyber Crime police has also registered cases against Meta India head Arun Srinivas and certain accounts on Facebook and Instagram over allegedly morphed and AI posts targeting PM Modi.