3 weeks ago
Meta faces Indian criminal case over AI videos of Modi
Meta is the company that makes Facebook and Instagram, apps where people share photos and videos.
Some people used computers to make fake, mean videos of India's leader, Prime Minister Modi, and shared them on these apps.
The police in the city of Hyderabad were not happy and opened a criminal case about these fake videos.
In India, there are new rules that say Meta must take down such fake videos very quickly, but it did not.
Meta's leaders, including a top executive named Joel Kaplan, went to Delhi to say sorry to India's government.
India's politicians told Meta it only had 72 hours to fix things, or it could lose its special internet protection, which would make it harder to operate.
Meta also got in trouble because bad ads on Instagram put children at risk, and the police are looking into that too.
Some people think Meta should be punished because it is responsible for what happens on its apps.
Others say it is very hard for any company to check billions of posts every day.
Now the big question is: who should be responsible when something harmful appears on the internet — the users, the company, or nobody?
AI-generated videos and images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, called 'misleading, derogatory, and obscene,' spread on Facebook and Instagram during exam-protest unrest.
Hyderabad police registered a criminal case on 31 July naming Arun Srinivas, Meta's India managing director, over content depicting the PM in an 'abusive manner.'
Meta's Joel Kaplan apologized to India's IT minister; PM Modi's 23 July Facebook video briefly vanished and Meta blamed an unspecified 'operational error.'
India's parliamentary panel gave Meta 72 hours to act and apologize or it would push to strip Meta's safe harbor under Section 79 of the IT Act, 2000.
Meta faces a Delhi Police FIR under POCSO over child sexual abuse material in Instagram ads, plus a $567 million New Mexico ruling in the US.
- Who
- Meta and executives Arun Srinivas, Joel Kaplan and Mark Zuckerberg on one side; Indian authorities including Hyderabad cybercrime police, the IT ministry, the parliamentary panel and the National Human Rights Commission on the other.
- What
- AI-generated, abusive videos and images of PM Narendra Modi circulated on Facebook and Instagram, triggering a criminal case, an apology, and threats to Meta's safe harbor, alongside a separate probe into child sexual abuse material in Instagram ads.
- Where
- India, chiefly Hyderabad and New Delhi; related rulings and penalties in New Mexico, United States.
- When
- First week of August 2026; the criminal case was registered on 31 July, PM Modi's video incident occurred on 23 July, and IT ministry-Meta technical talks ran August 5-6.
- Why
- India's February 2026 rules require synthetic media to be labeled or removed within hours, and Meta's failures sparked demands that a named person be accountable for platform content.
Regulators and critics
Meta and platform defenders
Safe harbor for user content
Regulators and critics
Platforms should lose legal immunity when they fail to remove harmful synthetic content, so victims and regulators can hold companies like Meta accountable.
Meta and platform defenders
Safe harbor protects free speech, and no algorithm can perfectly moderate billions of posts every day.
Personal liability of executives
Regulators and critics
Naming platform executives such as Arun Srinivas in criminal cases ensures a real, local person answers for unlawful content.
Meta and platform defenders
Holding executives personally criminally liable for users' posts is excessive and would cripple platform operations.
Takedown of PM Modi's video
Regulators and critics
The removal of PM Modi's 23 July address was an 'attack on democracy,' and the 'operational error' explanation was 'inadequate.'
Meta and platform defenders
The video vanished due to an unspecified operational error, not deliberate censorship.
Key facts
- Criminal case
- Registered 31 July 2026 over AI-generated videos of PM Modi; names Arun Srinivas, Meta India managing director
- Meta response
- Joel Kaplan apologized to India's IT minister; second apology to New Delhi in 18 months
- Safe harbor law
- Section 79, Information Technology Act, 2000
- Synthetic media rules
- Labeling required and takedown window cut from 36 hours to 3 hours under February 2026 rules
- Parliamentary panel deadline
- 72 hours to act and an unconditional apology, or push to strip Meta's safe harbor
- Technical talks
- August 5-6, 2026; IT ministry and Meta; Meta ordered to submit a corrective action plan
- Child safety action
- Delhi Police FIR against Meta under POCSO; 50 fresh complaints; notices to eight state police chiefs
- US legal exposure
- $567M New Mexico ruling plus $375M March jury verdict; state AG seeks up to $62.85B









