India Summons Meta Policy Heads Over Deepfakes and IT Rule Breaches as Instagram Tops 500 Million Users
Updated
Updated · CNBC · Jul 30
India Summons Meta Policy Heads Over Deepfakes and IT Rule Breaches as Instagram Tops 500 Million Users
3 articles · Updated · CNBC · Jul 30
Summary
India's IT ministry summoned Meta's global policy heads over alleged non-compliance with IT Rules and the spread of deepfakes on Instagram and Facebook, local media reported.
The scrutiny intensified after Facebook briefly restricted access to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's July 23 selfie-style video, a move the IT secretary called "disturbing."
Meta's scale helps explain the pressure: WhatsApp averages 837 million daily active users in India, Instagram 501 million and Facebook 362 million, ahead of YouTube's 646 million and X's 15 million.
Instagram's political influence has surged with youth-led protests, with daily active users rising 16% year on year to 531 million between July 18 and July 26 while rival platforms stayed largely flat.
That reach makes India a major long-term monetization opportunity for Meta, but also leaves it more exposed to government action on content moderation, privacy, competition and digital payments.