Meta To Appear Before Govt To Explain Policy Within 7-10 Days: MeitY
Krishnan said the government has asked Meta to send its senior-most representatives to explain the circumstances surrounding the issues flagged by authorities and provide clarity at both policy and technical levels
New Delhi: The government on Thursday confirmed that it would hold discussions with social media major Meta on policy and technical matters within a week over several concerns, including the removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Facebook post, according to electronics and IT secretary S Krishnan.
Mark Zuckerberg-owned platform was under scanner after PM Modi’s recent post addressing India’s youth and promising stringent measures against paper leaks was briefly restricted by Facebook. Modi’s Instagram post of July 23 marked his first direct selfie video aimed at engaging with the youth and underscoring the government’s commitment to crack down on paper leaks amid students’ protests.
“The Meta team will be coming and explaining what the situation is within a week. We want to have both a policy-level and a technical understanding of the issues, and an adaptation to the kinds of concerns India has in this regard. There are several issues we have, which we will raise with them when they come,” Krishnan told reporters on the sidelines of the CII event here.
However, Meta is learnt to have written to the government outlining the specifics of enhanced and rigorous safeguards it has now implemented for content posted by Modi and other prominent accounts. While the social media giant attributed the incident to a technical glitch and apologised, the IT ministry found the explanation ‘inadequate’.
As per the sources, Meta has now informed the 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. “Any decision will undergo rigorous checks and require review by at least two senior officials of the company, citing the social media firm's latest communication to the ministry,” the sources said.
Krishnan further said that Meta has to give reasons on the cause that led to the incident. “They have also given us the reasons, their understanding of the reason why it happened. They have also indicated that as of July 28, they have established new protocols relating to accounts of prominent persons to avoid such a situation from occurring,” he added.
