PTI
New Delhi
Meta wrote to the government on Wednesday outlining the specifics of enhanced and rigorous safeguards it has now implemented for content posted by the Prime Minister and other prominent accounts, according to sources.
Meta has informed the IT Ministry that posts by the Prime Minister and prominent accounts will have additional oversight on the platform and that multiple checks will take place at levels of senior company officials, sources said, citing the social media firm’s communication to the ministry.
Meta team is likely to meet government officials later this week or early next week over the Prime Minister’s Facebook post issue, sources said.
An email sent by PTI to Meta seeking comments did not elicit a response.
The government on Tuesday summoned a top Meta executive after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent post addressing India’s youth and promising stringent measures against paper leaks was briefly restricted by Facebook, and although the US-headquartered social media giant blamed it on a technical glitch and apologised, the IT Ministry had found the explanation “inadequate”.
Prime Minister Modi’s Instagram post of July 23, later shared on Facebook, 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, was restricted briefly by Meta on Facebook.
Following this, the global head of public policy of Meta (Facebook and Instagram) was summoned by the IT Ministry.
Information Technology Secretary S Krishnan on Tuesday said that while Meta has apologised and admitted that they have made a mistake, the Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity) is not happy with the explanation given and is seeking more details from the company.
