For the second time in a week, the Indian government has summoned Joel Kaplan, Meta’s Global Public Policy chief. According to sources, he has been called to attend a meeting with government officials on Wednesday (August 5). Technical officials from Instagram have also been asked to be present. This report comes from NDTV.
Sources indicate that the Indian central government seeks a detailed understanding of how Meta’s algorithms function. The government has received multiple complaints alleging that certain anti-government posts are gaining unusually high traction on social media. It is in response to these complaints that the government is demanding an explanation regarding the algorithms.
Previously, last week, Joel Kaplan was summoned by the Ministry of Information Technology following the removal of a video featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Facebook.
Sources claim the government may demand a written apology from Meta regarding that incident, as well as a written explanation detailing the technical glitch that caused the video’s removal.
In the removed video, Prime Minister Modi had promised Gen Z that strict measures would be taken to prevent question paper leaks. The video was uploaded to Facebook on July 23 amidst ongoing student protests led by the ‘Cockroach Janata Party’ (CJP); it was subsequently blocked for a period of time.
Following last week’s meeting, sources reported that Meta representatives assured the government they would strengthen security and monitoring for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s posts.
Meta informed the government that enhanced monitoring measures would be implemented for high-profile accounts, such as that of the Prime Minister. In the future, such posts will be vetted exclusively by senior Meta officials.
Additionally, Meta informed the Ministry of Information Technology that at least two senior company officials would rigorously review any decision to remove a post or take similar action.
