The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has urged Meta to revamp its algorithms and provide a compliance roadmap to curb the spread of deepfakes, propaganda and other manipulated or illegal content across its platforms. MeitY officials have also asked the company to strengthen its content moderation systems, act faster on takedown requests received from authorised government agencies and comply with data localisation requirements. The government has sought closer coordination with Meta to speed up the detection and removal of deepfakes, morphed images and misleading posts. The latest directions followed a meeting between Meta’s technical team and MeitY officials on August 7, Friday, during which the company explained how its existing systems identify and handle harmful content online. Government officials pushed for specific algorithmic changes aimed at restricting the spread of propaganda, deepfakes and manipulated media. During the discussions, Meta acknowledged gaps in its existing systems and outlined technical measures it could take to tackle deepfakes and other forms of synthetic content. Government and Meta have agreed to continue the discussions, with another meeting expected next week. The government’s scrutiny of Meta has intensified over concerns related to deepfakes, Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) and other harmful content. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had earlier apologised over errors related to CSAM and deepfake content after concerns were raised by the Indian government. India has tightened its regulatory framework for synthetically generated content, including deepfakes. The government earlier this year amended the Information