India Seeks Technical Changes From Meta to Tackle Deepfakes and Child Abuse Material

India's central government has asked Meta to implement technical changes on its platforms to combat deepfake material and child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Discussions between officials and Meta's global leadership have moved into a technical phase, where the company presented measures it plans to deploy to address the government's concerns.

The government has requested the implementation of specific measures and asked Meta to report on the outcomes. Officials plan to regularly review the company's progress, with another meeting scheduled for next week. A key concern has been the reappearance and continued circulation of harmful AI-generated content even after it has been flagged. The government has also questioned why unlabelled AI-generated videos remain visible on Meta's platforms.

Indian authorities have also called for Meta to strengthen human oversight in content moderation, with a focus on Indian languages and local cultural and social contexts. Meta has stated that it has solutions to address deepfakes, CSAM, bot accounts, and synthetic content, and explained how these measures can be deployed across its platforms.

The discussions followed several meetings where India's IT minister and officials questioned Meta on its compliance with Indian laws, content recommendation algorithms, and platform safeguards. The government initiated engagement with Meta after Facebook temporarily restricted a video posted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The matter is also under investigation by a parliamentary committee and national commissions for child protection and human rights.