'We do have some concerns with the timeline being shortened from 18 to 12 months.'
The Indian IT Ministry has engaged in 'hard talk' with Meta regarding child sexual abuse material (CSAM), leading to increased sensitivity and action from the tech giant. The government asserts that Indian laws must be followed and social media harms mitigated, with no safe harbour for violations. Discussions also covered AI labelling and the WhatsApp username issue, highlighting a global concern over social media harms.
Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg has issued an apology for the temporary removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Facebook post, while company executives acknowledged significant content moderation failures, including issues with child sexual abuse material, deepfakes, and the paid boosting of certain content.
Meta's global team met with top Indian IT Ministry officials following government summons regarding the temporary restriction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Facebook post and ongoing concerns about child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on its platforms.
Meta on Tuesday published a detailed blog outlining its efforts to combat child sexual abuse material across its apps, citing AI-powered detection, ad review systems and large-scale enforcement actions, days after the government issued a notice to the social media giant over reports of Instagram advertisements promoting such content.
The Indian government has issued a notice to Meta regarding WhatsApp's upcoming username feature, warning the platform not to roll it out until concerns about potential fraud, impersonation, and public safety are addressed to the government's satisfaction.
A parliamentary standing committee on Information Technology has demanded a personal apology from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg for the temporary removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's video from Facebook. The committee also discussed potential legal action and the withdrawal of safe harbour protection, while questioning Meta officials on algorithmic bias and accountability.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is set to expand its artificial intelligence (AI)-based surveillance beyond trading data to include corporate filings, aiming to proactively flag financial misstatements and manipulation in quarterly results without relying solely on investor complaints.
Instant messaging app WhatsApp temporarily put multiple accounts, including those in India, "under review" for 24 hours, blocking all app features. This disruption prompted numerous affected users to voice their concerns on social media, while a WhatsApp spokesperson acknowledged the issue, stating they are working to resolve it quickly.
The Indian government has issued a notice to Telegram, demanding a crackdown on the widespread dissemination of pirated films and OTT content. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting seeks an Action Taken Report within 15 days, emphasizing a shift towards platform accountability for copyright infringement, which is deemed a criminal offence.
India's IT Ministry has issued notices to Telegram and Signal, following a similar action against WhatsApp, questioning their username features due to concerns over increased online fraud, phishing, and impersonation. The government is seeking explanations on how these platforms address such risks, with one homegrown app already disabling the feature.
The aim is to win over the country's enterprises, developers and startups as AI systems shift from answering questions to autonomously executing tasks.
The National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) has commenced an investigation into Rajesh Exports concerning a 15.15 trillion financial misstatement, following a referral from market regulator Sebi.
The Delhi High Court has issued an interim order for the removal of the film 'Kala Hiran: The Battle for Legal' teaser and related online posts, following objections from actor Salman Khan regarding the unauthorised use of his name, mannerisms, and reputation for commercial gain.
An Indian AI Research Organisation official says India has adopted a balanced and pragmatic approach to AI regulation, avoiding the extremes of the US and EU models.
The scale of illegal gambling and betting in India is staggering, with 1.6 billion visits recorded between October and December 2024 across four analysed platforms -- Parimatch, Stake, 1xBet, and Battery Bet.
The Indian government has extended the deadline for implementing SIM-binding rules for mobile messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram to December 31, following requests from the industry. The Department of Telecom has also relaxed the mandatory six-hour log-out rule for web versions of these apps.
The missive has, however, polarised stakeholders, with mobile operators under COAI coming out in its support, while digital platforms under the aegis of Broadband India Forum expressing "serious concerns" around overreach and calling for a pause in implementation of timelines.
'Amazon, Meta, Google, Microsoft have large operations in India and rely on smooth trade and data flows.' 'Restrictions could raise their costs, limit AI chip exports, and complicate their India strategies.'
The US has replaced random H-1B selection with a wage-weighted lottery and a new $100,000 fee for applications, raising uncertainty for students and junior hires.
As per the report released on Monday, the over 26.9 million content pieces actioned by Facebook during September included content related to spam (20.3 million), violent and graphic content (3.4 million), adult nudity and sexual activity (2.4 million), and hate speech (182,200).
'Indian players in the digital market should not be dominated by global players, and they should not dominate the smaller players -- these discussions are on.'
The high court asked the defendants to file their reply within two weeks of service of notice and listed the matter for August 22 before the joint registrar.
X claimed that the video in the social media posts which Sharma seeks to remove from its platform matches with his channel India TV's own livestream and is prima facie "authentic".
WhatsApp had banned 2.9 million accounts in January, 3.6 million accounts in December and 3.7 million accounts in November.
Meta-owned Facebook 'actioned' about 21.6 million content pieces across 13 violation categories in India during March, according to a monthly report by the social media giant.
The content 'actioned' belonged to categories including bullying and harassment, violent and graphic content, adult nudity and sexual activity, child endangerment, dangerous organisations and individuals, and spam, among others.
Google on Tuesday began reinstating about 250 Indian apps it had delisted from its Play Store over a billing dispute as it caved in to government criticism, but the squabble may not yet be over.
'Our proactive detection rate for hate speech in India is close to 97 per cent -- which means that of the hate speech content we remove, we detect 97 per cent of it proactively, even before anyone reports it.'
Significant controls and exemptions to the government under the proposed Digital Personal Data Protection bill 2022 are likely to make it harder for companies to invest in data centres and data processing activities in India, according to global technology industry body ITI. The ministry of electronics and IT has floated draft Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill 2022 and has invited comments on the same till January 2. "The Bill grants significant controls to the executive arm of GOI (Government of India) and delegates much of the detailed rulemaking authority to separate, as yet undefined processes.
India's expectation of Twitter complying with the country's rules for social media platforms will not change with its takeover by Elon Musk, according to a senior minister.
