Kathmandu— Indian government officials clarified on Sunday that Meta's social media platforms must be governed by Indian law rather than relying solely on the company's global policies. Following technical discussions with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), officials emphasized that the company must better understand India's unique cultural context and linguistic nuances to moderate content effectively and prevent the resurgence of harmful material.

Demands for Localized Moderation

Government sources noted that teams based outside of India often lack a full understanding of the country's cultural context. To address this, officials stated that Meta requires greater local input, including a stronger grasp of Indian languages and cultural nuances, to ensure content moderation is effective and accurate.

Addressing the issue of deepfakes, officials noted that content from authorized or verified handles should not be misidentified as synthetic media. They argued that sensitive cases cannot be left entirely to automated detection systems, calling instead for a "human-in-the-loop" mechanism to ensure proper review before any takedown actions are taken.

Zero Tolerance for Harmful Content

The government expressed an unequivocal stance on Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), stating there is zero tolerance and zero compromise on such content. Officials warned that allowing such material to remain on the platform constitutes a serious violation of rules and demanded that Meta adopt stronger, more proactive measures with concrete actions rather than mere assurances.

Concerns were also raised regarding synthetically generated content. Officials questioned why material previously identified and removed as deepfakes continues to reappear on the platform. Meta has been asked to specify the concrete steps it is taking to prevent such content from resurfacing after it has been removed.

Algorithmic Transparency and Virality

The government sought clarity regarding Meta's recommendation and virality algorithms, questioning why users are frequently presented with content unrelated to their stated interests. Officials suggested these discrepancies point to underlying flaws in the recommendation system that must be addressed.

Furthermore, officials insisted that once synthetically generated content is flagged, it should neither be recommended further by the algorithm nor allowed to resurface repeatedly.

Technical discussions between Meta's technical team and MeitY officials are ongoing, with another round of meetings expected in the coming week.

(With inputs from ANI)

Originally published on abcnews.com.np.