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Meta global team on Wednesday met top IT Ministry officials, following government summons over the removal of PM Narendra Modi's post on Facebook. Wrongful action on prominent post and lapses in curbing child sexual abuse material on social media platform were among the concerns raised by the government. Top Meta executives, including Global Affairs officer Joel Kaplan, met IT secretary S Krishnan and other senior officials of Meity in a discussion that lasted 45 minutes. The team is also slated to meet Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw later today. The meeting is significant as the government had summoned Meta's top global executives after Prime Minister Modi's recent Facebook post addressing Indian youth and promising stringent action against paper leaks was briefly restricted on the platform. While the US-headquartered social media giant had attributed the incident to a technical glitch and apologised, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had found th
The government will raise a number of issues, including lapses in tackling of CSAM as well as wrongful action on prominent account during the upcoming meeting with Meta's global team, IT Secretary S Krishnan said on Tuesday, adding that a company at the forefront of technology should have been able to make its systems work as they are supposed to. Meta's global team will be in India on August 5 and 6, Krishnan said. The upcoming meeting is significant as the government has summoned Meta's top global executives after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent Facebook post addressing India's youth and promising stringent action against paper leaks, was briefly restricted on the platform. Meta has also been under regulatory scrutiny over Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM) in paid advertisements on Instagram, and the government had earlier slapped a notice on Meta over the issue. "There are a range of issues...the CSAM issue was raised, so what measures have been taken ..
Meta wrote to the government on Wednesday outlining the specifics of enhanced and rigorous safeguards it has now implemented for content posted by the Prime Minister and other prominent accounts, according to sources. Meta has informed the IT Ministry that posts by the Prime Minister and prominent accounts will have additional oversight on the platform and that multiple checks will take place at levels of senior company officials, sources said, citing the social media firm's communication to the ministry. Meta team is likely to meet government officials later this week or early next week over the Prime Minister's Facebook post issue, sources added. An email sent by PTI to Meta seeking comments did not elicit a response. The government on Tuesday summoned a top Meta executive after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent post addressing India's youth and promising stringent measures against paper leaks was briefly restricted by Facebook, and although the US-headquartered social media
Provisions under Semicon 2.0 to provide incentives to Indian chip-making firms against equity are expected to drive largescale investment required for the development of advanced chips for technology such as artificial intelligence, a senior government official has said. Under Semicon 2.0, which has a budget of Rs 1.27 lakh crore, the central government has prioritised chip design by Indian companies. In an interview to PTI on Saturday, Ministry of Electronics and IT Secretary S Krishnan said advance chip design may need thousands of crores of investments. "We intend to provide more funding. Otherwise, under design-linked incentive scheme, you get only about Rs 15 crore. Now, to design high-end chips you need Rs 1,000 crore or more. "At the same time, the government can't give everything. This is why you have this combination saying that you get investment from a venture capitalist or somebody who believes that you will be able to bring out this chip, and we will co-invest," he ...
The rapid transformation of banking and financial services is creating a fundamentally new cyber threat landscape, according to a report that argues traditional security models are no longer sufficient to serve today's interconnected ecosystems. The Digital Threat Report 2025-26, released on Monday, notes that conventional cybersecurity architectures were designed around centralised systems where trust boundaries were defined. Today's financial ecosystem, however, is built around interconnected platforms, embedded finance, AI-driven decision-making and real-time payments, dramatically expanding the attack surface, says the new report by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), the Computer Security Incident Response Team in Finance (CSIRT-Fin) and SISA. "Modern financial attacks are moving from direct compromise to trust-chain manipulation across biometric onboarding, partner apps, AI decisioning, real-time ..
The issue of an alleged data breach at Tata Electronics that reportedly exposed sensitive information related to Apple's unreleased iPhone model is currently under examination, and both entities are satisfied they haven't lost much on commercial parameters, a senior IT Ministry official said on Monday. The government had earlier said that the incident was reported to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In). CERT-In is the national nodal agency for responding to computer security incidents. "We are studying what is happening on that issue. But on the commercial aspect, we understand that both the current entities involved are broadly satisfied that they have not lost anything... they are not very concerned about that. So this is what we understand from those entities," IT Secretary S Krishnan told reporters on Monday. Krishnan's comment comes in the wake of reports that details of components and suppliers, along with Apple's iPhone 18 Pro model photos were put on the d
Meta's reply to the government notice over child sexual abuse material (CSAM) ads on Instagram has been received by Meity and is being examined, IT Secretary S Krishnan said on Monday, adding that appropriate action will be taken after examination. The government had issued a stern notice to Meta recently on Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM) in paid advertisements on Instagram. MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) had ordered Instagram to disable all ads and content promoting and facilitating access to CSEAM, and demanded a detailed explanation bound to a deadline. Within a few days of the notice, Meta outlined its efforts to combat child sexual abuse material (CSAM) across its apps, highlighting AI-powered detection and large-scale enforcement actions, and, in a blogpost, promised to continue investment in technology and resources to keep young people safe and strengthen its ad review processes. Krishnan said Monday that Meta's reply to the
Meta-owned WhatsApp's response to the government notice on the 'username' feature is due on Thursday, IT Secretary S Krishnan said. Last Wednesday, the Centre issued a notice to Meta questioning the proposed username feature on WhatsApp, flagging concerns that it could materially increase online fraud, phishing, digital arrest scams, and impersonation attacks. The username feature essentially allows people on the messaging platform to communicate without sharing their phone numbers. The government had also directed the platform not to launch the feature until consultations on the issue are completed "to the satisfaction of the Government". Subsequently, WhatsApp had sought some more time to submit its response on the 'username' feature and had assured the government that it would not roll it out in India until discussions are complete. "Today is the day when the reply is due," Krishnan said on the sidelines of the CII GCC Business Summit, when asked about WhatsApp's response to th
India appears set to move towards a dedicated regulatory framework for artificial intelligence, with IT Secretary S Krishnan on Friday saying the time has come to look at a separate AI regulation. Krishnan noted that while existing legal provisions have so far been adequate in addressing initial concerns on issues like deepfakes and AI-generated synthetic content, an "additional regulation or law may be needed". "It is a conversation which has commenced, and my Minister (IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw) and I have both been on record earlier that we will look at AI regulation when the time is right, and it appears that the time is getting right, and we will start looking at it," Krishnan said. He added: "We have used the IT rules, and other provisions of existing law to address various concerns that AI raises, but now, probably the time has come to look at a separate legislation." Asked about the timelines for bringing out a new AI regulation, the IT secretary said: "As Ministry, at a
After sending a notice to WhatsApp, the IT Ministry has now sent a notice to Telegram and Signal, raising questions on their existing username feature and asking how the platforms are addressing concerns related to fraud and impersonation, according to a source. Sources said that in the notice to Telegram, the government has asked the platform why it should be allowed to retain the username feature. On Wednesday, the Centre issued a notice to Meta over the username feature on WhatsApp, citing concerns that it could materially increase online fraud, phishing, digital arrest scams, and impersonation attacks. It had also directed WhatsApp to pause the feature until consultations on the issue are completed "to the satisfaction of the Government". The government has now widened its scrutiny to other messaging platforms as well, sources said. Sources told PTI that the IT ministry has also written to Telegram and Signal - which already have the username feature - and asked how concerns .
A high-level inter-ministerial body, AI Governance and Economic Group, headed by Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, has been constituted to steer the country's national AI governance strategy, an official statement said on Thursday. AI Governance and Economic Group (AIGEG) will coordinate policy across ministries, departments and sectoral regulators and oversee cross-sectoral governance issues. "The AIGEG will operate as the apex inter-ministerial body within India's AI governance institutional framework. It will be supported by a Technology and Policy Expert Committee (TPEC), which will offer expert advisory to the AIGEG on global developments, emerging technologies, risks, regulation and other evolving priorities relating to AI policy and governance," the statement said. The inter-ministerial body will be chaired by the union electronics and IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw whose portfolio spans railways and Information and Broadcasting. Minister of State for Electronics and IT Jiti