Meta CEO apologizes to Indian government for child abuse material and deepfakes
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly apologized to the Indian government for failures in content moderation, specifically for child sexual abuse material and deepfake videos that appeared on Facebook and Instagram. The apology followed government demands in July for the removal of such content and explanations for how the material was allowed on the platforms.
What happened
Mark Zuckerberg formally apologized to the Indian government for the presence of child sexual abuse material, deepfake videos, and operational failures on Meta platforms including Facebook and Instagram.
The apology was given on Tuesday during a meeting between Meta executives and Indian government officials, according to reporting by Moneycontrol citing sources.
Reported impact
In July, the Indian government directed Meta to remove advertisements and content promoting child sexual abuse material from Instagram and demanded explanations within seven days for how such advertisements appeared on the platform.
Index analysis
Meta stated it has a zero-tolerance policy for child sexual abuse material and works continuously to improve detection systems.
Governance controls
In July, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology summoned Meta executives after Facebook temporarily removed a post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which the company said was a unintentional operational error.
Hyderabad police filed a case against Meta India head Arun Srinivas regarding videos posted on Facebook that allegedly depicted Prime Minister Modi in an abusive manner.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.