Days after Meta briefly removed a Facebook post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologised to the government on Wednesday, according to sources.
Sources in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said Zuckerberg apologised over issues related to child sexual abuse material (CSAM), deepfake content and alleged errors in the platform’s operations, including what the government described as algorithmic bias.
They also claimed that Meta admitted that “a lot of money was paid for boosting certain types of content”.
“Mark Zuckerberg sent his apologies for the CSAM content, deepfake content and errors in operating the platform. They admitted that a lot of money was paid for boosting certain types of content. They apologised and regretted the mistake,” MeitY sources said.
Earlier in the day, Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan and members of his team met MeitY Secretary S Krishnan for more than 45 minutes. The delegation later met IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. According to government sources, Zuckerberg’s apology followed these meetings.
Meta-owned platforms, including Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, have come under government scrutiny over allegations of algorithmic bias and the promotion of anti-government content, particularly on Instagram.
According to government sources, the platform promoted one-sided content during recent student protests. The government subsequently asked Meta to remove content it considered objectionable, including abusive posts targeting the government.
Another issue raised by the government was the alleged presence of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on Instagram, following which MeitY officials sought an explanation from Meta executives.
The move followed a BBC report which found that Instagram displayed paid advertisements containing terms such as “rape video” and “child video”. According to the report, the advertisements redirected users to Telegram channels where child sexual abuse material was allegedly being sold for as little as ₹99.
