New Delhi (India) August 18: Amid ongoing talks with META over broader social media regulation, the government has seen "increased sensitivity" from the company over addressing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on their platform. According to government sources that spoke to PTI, Meta has been proactive about CSAM and has undertaken measures to filter illegal content. The government clarified that those engaging in a violation concerning this type of content can not hold any protection for safe harbour.

India Seeks Localised Content Moderation

The government has also maintained that its actions with regard to the illegal content are in accordance with India's statutory and legal framework, and nothing outside that has occurred. However, these discussions go beyond CSAM. 

India has informed Meta that their moderation teams need to be more adept to the country's varying linguistic and cultural differences rather than solely adhering to global moderation standards; this has been a major concern to the government because the platforms operate in such different nations with varying languages, cultural norms and societal values. Officials state that their moderation needs to adjust to these differences in applying rules and regulations.

They also stated that they will continue to monitor these areas and are aiming to not suppress or censor free speech, rather create an environment that would not produce harm to the country.

MeitY Seeks META Action On Instagram CSAM Ads

This follows weeks of discussions among META officials and India's Ministry of Electronics and IT. It is reported that in this instance, the company expressed its regret over content moderation and acknowledged the brief limitation of a Facebook post made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to an error in its automated moderating mechanism.

Officials referenced IT Act's Section 79, which specifies intermediary protection for any intermediary content or for publishing third-party content as long as due diligence is performed on the intermediary part. Meta had received a notice from the Ministry, for CSAMs that appeared in Instagram's paid advertisements. Sources stated that Meta was instructed to take appropriate action and provide the result of the measures that were implemented and would also require follow-ups.