- Sunday, February 23, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
WHILE other international social media outlets like Twitter and WhatsApp have locked horns with the Indian government over the country’s new information technology rules, Facebook India has decided to take the opposite path and backed the Centre.
Facebook India managing director Ajit Mohan has told Indian daily The Times of India, “The (Indian) government wants to limit the misuse and abuse of social media platforms by bad actors, and that is an agenda that we are entirely aligned with.”
“The agenda of safety and security online is an important agenda for us, especially in a country where we have 700 million people online. I think it makes sense to have a framework for accountability and for having rules around harmful content,” he said.
“In fact, over the last few years, as a company, we have invested a lot in this area. Ensuring the safety of our users and keeping harmful content off our platforms takes up a remarkable amount of resources and investments, billions of dollars every year and a significant investment in headcount, all focussed on keeping harmful content off our platform,” Mohan added.
Facebook agreement comes after parliamentary committee call
Facebook’s agreement to the new information technology rules in India came a day after India’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology asked the social media giant and Google to comply with them.
Mohan’s stand was consistent with the words of India’s information technology and law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad who had said that the information technology rules “empower the users of social media when they become victims of abuse and misuse”.
In March, the social media platform called the Indian government’s move to formulate policy and rules around moderating content “a legitimate scrutiny” and said the respect for Indian laws is “non-negotiable”.
Facebook’s agreement to India’s new information technology laws comes when another social media giant Twitter has found itself at odds with the government over complying with them.
Facebook-owned WhatsApp has also challenged the government’s rule of compulsory traceability of “unlawful” messaging in the Delhi high court.
