Zuckerberg apologises for child abuse, deepfake content: Sources

Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg has apologised to India over the availability of child sexual abuse material and deepfake content on his social media platforms and shortcomings in operating the company's platforms during high-level consultations with the Centre. According to sources, the government made it clear that platforms cannot earn money from advertising child abuse content and simultaneously claim safe harbour protections. The development took place during a meeting of senior global executives from Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, with IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday.
Sourves said, Zuckerberg also sent his apology through top officials for the errors in operating the intermediary platforms. “Meta admitted that a lot of money was paid for boosting certain types of content. They accepted that a lot of illegal content was being promoted. The paid promotion was carried out for a specific audience. They apologised and regretted the mistake,” they added.
Government officials reportedly suggested that Meta could not claim the legal protection available to intermediaries under the Information Technology Act because its algorithms actively determine which content is amplified and shown to users.
The Centre on Wednesday raised concerns over the temporary removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Facebook video and Meta's failure to effectively curb child sexual abuse material (CSAM) during a high-level meeting with the company's executives. The 45-minute discussion took place amid growing scrutiny of Meta's content moderation policies across Facebook and Instagram.
The Parliamentary standing committee on information technology, headed by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, also demanded action against intermediary platforms that carry child sexual abuse material (CSEAM) and demeaning material against women. In a letter to the secretary, Ministry of Electronics and IT, a director of the Lok Sabha secretariat said protection and immunity for Zuckerberg may be withdrawn if there is no apology in three days. Top Meta executives, including Global Affairs officer Joel Kaplan, met IT secretary S Krishnan and other senior officials of Meity and discussed the matter in detal.