India’s government held technical talks with Meta to address concerns over deepfakes, synthetic content labelling, and platform compliance as regulations tighten on AI-generated material.
India’s government held technical-level talks with Meta on Friday as pressure intensified over deepfakes, child sexual abuse material and unlabeled synthetic content on the company’s platforms, according to PTI. Government sources said Meta outlined how its systems work and how it intends to deal with harmful AI-generated material, bot activity and content that keeps resurfacing after being flagged. Officials also asked the company to report back on concrete steps and outcomes.
The discussions followed two earlier days of questioning in which Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and senior officials, including IT Secretary S. Krishnan, pressed Meta’s team on content recommendation systems and compliance with Indian law. According to the reports, the government’s concern is not only whether harmful material can be removed, but whether it can be prevented from spreading again once taken down. Officials also challenged the company on why AI-generated videos can still appear without labels even though Indian rules require synthetic content to be identified.
The talks come against the backdrop of a tougher regulatory push in India. Government amendments to the Information Technology rules, introduced in 2026, require platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, X and Telegram to clearly label synthetically generated content and remove unlawful material within three hours of being flagged by authorities or courts. The changes also define synthetic information more precisely and make senior officers at social media companies directly responsible for compliance. Some industry stakeholders welcomed the removal of an earlier requirement for fixed-size watermarks, but the new rules still impose strict obligations on platforms handling AI-generated media.
The scrutiny of Meta also follows the government’s temporary restriction of a Facebook post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which led to the company’s global affairs head, Joel Kaplan, and other executives being summoned to New Delhi this week. Government officials said Meta has acknowledged serious issues and claimed it is working hard to address them, but the latest round of talks suggests the Centre wants measurable progress rather than assurances. For platforms operating in India, the episode underlines how quickly AI safety, content moderation and legal compliance have become linked policy issues.
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