Metaverse

5 key takeaways from Mark Zuckerberg's 6,500-word manifesto on AI

Zuckerberg's letter is the latest entry in the broader genre of manifestos from AI executives laying out their visions for the emerging technology

US court orders Meta to pay $567 mn over harms to children's mental health

A New Mexico court has ordered Instagram and Facebook parent company Meta to pay USD 567 million to address harms to young people from its platforms in the second phase of a landmark trial the social media giant lost in March. In a ruling late Thursday, Judge Bryan Biedcheid said the bulk of the money - USD 420 million - will be used for treatment services for young people. The rest will go toward awareness and prevention, screening services and other costs over the next five years. In the first phase, jurors had ordered USD 375 million in civil penalties against Meta, determining that it knowingly harmed children's mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms. In the second phase, prosecutors had asked the judge to impose fundamental changes at Meta aimed at reining in addictive features, improving age verification and preventing child sexual exploitation through default privacy settings and closer oversight. The court said federal ...

Bombay HC orders removal of defamatory posts against Nitin Gadkari

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted interim relief to Union minister Nitin Gadkari, ordering Meta, X and Google to immediately remove all the "vile, abusive, obscene and defamatory" social media posts targeting him. A single-judge bench of Justice Arif Doctor issued the direction while hearing a civil defamation suit filed by the Minister for Road Transport and Highways challenging a series of AI-generated deepfake videos and manipulated digital posts that falsely alleged Gadkari and his family received illegal financial benefits from the Centre's ethanol-blended petrol (E20) initiative. "These posts, on the face of it, are abusive, vile, and obscene," Justice Doctor said, adding, "The material on the face of it is absolutely vile and abusive. Such material should have no place on a public platform, which is accessible to everyone, including the younger generation." The bench directed Meta, X Corp and Google LLC to ensure forthwith that the posts are taken down. Justice Doct

Meta team meets IT Ministry officials after summons over PM's post removal

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

Parliament panel seeks Zuckerberg apology over PM Modi video removal

A Parliamentary standing committee on Wednesday demanded an apology from Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech being removed from Facebook. In a letter to the secretary, Ministry of Electronics and IT, a director of the Lok Sabha secretariat said protection and immunity for Zuckerberg may be withdrawn if there is no apology in three days. "The removal of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's video addressing students and Gen Z regarding examination controversies and strict actions against paper leaks from Facebook for 5-6 hours viewed very seriously by the Committee," said the letter signed by A Jyothirmayi. The panel has also sought government of India action against Google India head over investors losing more than Rs 48 lakh through fraud apps. "The Committee while discussing Hyderabad Cyber Police Action against the Google India Head as a co-accused along with the Cyber fraudsters after the complainants alleged that they lost more than Rs.48 lakhs

Govt to question Meta on CSAM, WhatsApp username issue, account takedowns

Senior executives are likely to be questioned on child sexual abuse material, synthetic content, impersonation risks and safeguards for prominent and verified accounts

Govt to raise CSAM lapses, account action issues with Meta team on Aug 5-6

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 ..

WhatsApp puts multiple accounts under review, blocks all app features

Instant messaging app WhatsApp on Monday put multiple accounts, including those in India, "under review" for 24 hours and blocked all the app features, prompting several affected users to flag the issue through social media. The disruption was noticed around 8 pm IST when users started facing the issue without any prior warning from the Meta group's messaging app. The WhatsApp app on the screen displayed the message: "Account in review. Date requested: 3 Aug 2026. Your account activity and device info is being checked to make sure it follows our terms of service. We will notify you of the result typically within 24 hours." Below these remarks, the app shows an option to learn about account issues, which include "How to use WhatsApp responsibly. See guidance" and an option "About stolen phone and accounts". Some of the users on social media posted different messages. "My WhatsApp account has been disabled without any explanation. I have already submitted an appeal, but the review p

Meta, Anthropic, OpenAI to meet Trump officials about AI safety testing

Anthropic and OpenAI disclosed in recent days that their AI tools breached the systems of other companies, stirring concerns among US ‌lawmakers

US govt should not block Chinese models to gain edge in AI race: Zuckerberg

The Trump administration ‌on Tuesday unveiled bans ​that target imports of ‌new Chinese robots and power inverters, seeking to protect ‌the US AI buildout from national security threats

Bombay HC permits Gadkari to sue Meta, X, others over defamatory deepfakes

The Bombay High Court on Monday permitted Union Minister Nitin Gadkari to file a civil suit against Meta Platforms, X Corp, Google LLC and other unknown persons over "defamatory" deepfakes and AI-generated posts uploaded against him. The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and senior BJP leader had filed a leave petition under Clause XII of Letters Patent, a procedural requirement wherein permission of the court is sought before filing of a suit, when part of the cause of action arises outside the territorial jurisdiction of the high court. Such leave (permission) is necessary to enable the court to hear and decide a suit despite jurisdictional limitations. Gadkari's leave petition came up for hearing on Monday before a single bench of Justice Abhay Ahuja. His lawyer Sandeep Ladda submitted that online platforms have made alleged defamatory and deepfake content publicly available, including to users in Maharashtra. Since this content is accessible here, Ladda argued that

Meta to reverse copyright strikes on TV Today posts after HC hearing

The social media company also agreed to provide subscriber details and IP logs of anonymous accounts accused of issuing false copyright claims against the broadcaster

What was Meta's Muse AI, the feature pulled days after its launch?

Meta's Muse AI let users generate images using public Instagram profiles. Days after launch, the company withdrew the feature following criticism over consent, privacy and impersonation risks

26 employees sue Meta over alleged use of AI to select workers for layoffs

A group of 26 Meta employees has sued the company, claiming it used artificial intelligence systems to select people for layoffs, disproportionately targeting those on medical, parental or family leave. They are among the 8,000 employees, or about 10 per cent of its workforce, Meta said it would lay off in May. The lawsuit filed late Monday in federal court in Oakland, California, claims the company used internal AI systems, keystroke and activity-monitoring data, AI token-usage dashboards and algorithmically assisted performance rankings, among other methods, to determine who would be laid off. Many of these scores and ratings "by design, cannot be accumulated by an employee who is on protected medical or family leave, or whose output is reduced by a disability," the lawsuit says. Meta, according to the lawsuit, did not account for protected leave when taking employees' scores into account and "did not pause the system for the individualised, leave- and accommodation-neutral review

Govt working on common standards for messaging platforms' username feature

The government is examining responses from WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram to develop a common framework for username-based identities and guard against fraud and impersonation

Govt examining Meta's reply over child abuse ads on Instagram: IT secy

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

WhatsApp submits reply on 'username' notice; govt examining response

Meta-owned WhatsApp has submitted its reply to the government's notice on the "username" feature and the response is being examined, sources said on Thursday. The Centre issued a notice to Meta last Wednesday, questioning the proposed username feature on WhatsApp, flagging concerns that it could materially increase incidents of 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 Centre had also directed the platform not to launch the feature until consultations on the issue were completed "to the satisfaction of the government". Subsequently, WhatsApp had sought some more time to submit its response on the "username" feature and assured the government that it would not roll it out in India until discussions were complete. The sources told PTI that WhatsApp's reply has indeed been received by the information technology ministry and the

All eyes: Are AI-powered smart glasses the next big wearable device?

From translation and navigation to photography and voice assistants, AI-powered eyewear is moving beyond vision correction into everyday life

Removed 160K India accounts in 2025 over child exploitative content: Meta

Meta said it removed 160,000 accounts linked to suspected child exploitation and over four million suspicious accounts across Facebook and Instagram

WhatsApp gets more time to reply to username notice; India rollout on hold

The Meta-owned messaging platform has received an additional three days to respond to a government notice seeking clarification on the feature