New Delhi: Indian officials have held intense discussions with Google, Twitter, and Facebook on Monday for not proactively removing what they described as fake news on their platforms, sources told Reuters.
The officials, from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B), strongly criticized the companies and said their inaction on fake news was forcing the Indian government to order content takedowns, which in turn drew international criticism that authorities were suppressing free expression, two sources said.
The meeting was a follow-up to the I&B ministry’s use of “emergency powers” in December and January to order the blocking of 55 channels on Google’s YouTube platform, and some Twitter and Facebook account.
The government had said the channels were promoting “fake news” or “anti-India” content and that the disinformation was being spread by accounts based in neighboring Pakistan.
I&B ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the meeting while Facebook, now known as Meta, Twitter, and ShareChat declined to comment.
Without commenting on the meeting, Alphabet Inc’s Google said in a statement it reviews government’s requests and “where appropriate, we restrict or remove the content in keeping with local laws.” Koo said it complies with local laws and has strong content moderation practices in place.
