Zuckerberg apologises over Modi post removal

New Delhi: Instagram and WhatsApp-owner Meta Platforms Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg apologised for the temporary removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Facebook post, as company executives acknowledged failures involving child sexual abuse content and deepfakes and admitted that “a lot of money was paid for boosting a certain type of content”, government sources said on Wednesday.

Sources speaking after the US technology giant’s global team led by its Global Affairs head Joel Kaplan met Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, admitted to lapses in the operation of the company’s platforms. Before meeting Vaishnaw, Kaplan, who served in the administration of George W Bush, including as White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy before joining Meta (then Facebook) in 2011, and his team held a separate discussion with IT Secretary S Krishnan.

The meetings followed the government summoning the company’s global leadership over the brief removal of Modi’s Facebook post last month, which Meta had blamed on a technical glitch. While Meta officials did not offer any comments on the meeting, government sources said the Meta team apologised and expressed regret over the incident and over other content moderation failures.

The government also questioned Meta over child sexual abuse material, deepfakes, safeguards for verified and prominent accounts, algorithmic bias and compliance with Indian law. Meta admitted that a lot of illegal content was promoted, and paid promotions were carried out for specific audiences, government sources said, adding that Meta will be called again. Meta was in the crosshairs of the government after temporarily restricting the Prime Minister’s July 23 Facebook post, in which he addressed Indian youth and promised stringent action against paper leaks. Modi first posted the selfie video on Instagram.