The Indian government has required Meta to enhance its compliance with local legal frameworks, focusing on combating child sexual abuse material and improving content oversight amid rising regulatory scrutiny.
The Indian government has told Meta that its platforms must comply with Indian law, as officials seek tighter alignment between the company’s moderation systems and the country’s legal framework, according to reporting by The Sentinel Assam and related coverage in Livemint, Business Standard, NDTV and The Economic Times.
Government sources said the recent discussions were not about forcing Meta to redesign its recommendation algorithms, but about ensuring that its policies, enforcement tools and platform governance reflect Indian requirements. Officials also said the company needs stronger local expertise, particularly a better grasp of India’s languages and cultural differences, to improve moderation decisions.
Child sexual abuse material has emerged as a major point of pressure. Reports in Livemint, Business Standard and NDTV said India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has already issued notices to Meta over allegations that Instagram ads and related content were promoting or facilitating access to such material. The ministry has demanded that the content be disabled and that Meta explain its systems within a set deadline, while warning of possible legal action under Indian law.
Meta has pushed back by saying it is working to strengthen safety systems and that child exploitation is a serious crime. According to Livemint, the company said it uses technology to identify suspicious accounts and deny that it knowingly targets children with inappropriate advertising. Government sources, however, said assurances are not enough and that they expect concrete action.
Deepfakes were also discussed. Officials said content from authorised or verified accounts should not be wrongly treated as synthetic media by automated tools alone, and argued for a human-in-the-loop review process before removal decisions are made. The government also wants Meta to explain how it is stopping removed deepfake content from resurfacing on the platform.
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