India is expanding its scrutiny of Meta, assessing whether its algorithm-driven content recommendation systems remain within the legal protections of the intermediary safe-harbour regime, amid wider concerns over synthetic media and automated content.
India is broadening its scrutiny of Meta from content moderation to the more consequential issue of whether algorithm-driven feeds still fit within the country’s intermediary safe-harbour regime. Government sources told PTI that officials are assessing whether the company’s recommendation systems and paid content-promotion tools remain compatible with Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, which gives intermediaries conditional protection from liability for third-party material. The central question is whether a platform that actively curates what users see can still be treated as a neutral conduit rather than a publisher.
That distinction matters because Section 79 is not a blanket shield. Legal summaries of the provision note that intermediaries must not initiate a transmission, choose the recipient or alter the content if they are to retain protection. The law also requires due diligence, and later rules have tightened those obligations. In practical terms, the government is now testing whether algorithmic ranking and commercial amplification fall inside the traditional intermediary model or push a platform into a more active editorial role.
The review is unfolding alongside wider concerns over deepfakes, bots, child sexual abuse material and unlabeled synthetic media. India amended its intermediary rules in February 2026 to introduce specific obligations around synthetically generated information, including identification and labelling requirements. According to PTI, officials have asked Meta why AI-generated material without proper labelling continues to appear on its services and why flagged content can keep resurfacing.
Human oversight is also under the microscope. Government officials have urged Meta to increase manual review, particularly for Indian languages and local cultural contexts, where automated systems can struggle with nuance. PTI reported that Meta outlined technical steps it says it plans to take on deepfakes, child sexual abuse material, synthetic content and bot accounts, while officials signalled that they expect regular progress checks in the weeks ahead.
The talks began after a Facebook post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefly restricted, prompting Meta’s global affairs chief, Joel Kaplan, to meet Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and IT Secretary S. Krishnan. Kaplan apologised publicly for the mistake. Yet the broader discussion has now moved well beyond that episode. For Meta, and potentially for other large platforms operating in India, the result could shape how far algorithmic control can go before safe-harbour protection begins to narrow.
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