3 weeks ago

Meta faces Indian criminal case over AI videos of Modi

Meta faces Indian criminal case over AI videos of Modi
Meta fiasco: India’s Gen Z summer puts Big Tech on trial · firstpost.com

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?

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

Sources

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