NEW DELHI: Meta has agreed to appear before the government to clarify policy and technical issues related to its operations, ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) secretary S Krishnan said on Thursday.Krishnan said the company would engage with the government to explain concerns surrounding its policies and technical framework.Krishnan said the government has asked Meta to depute its senior-most representatives to explain the issues flagged by the authorities and provide clarity on both the policy and technical aspects of the matter.“Meta, we have asked them to come in at the highest level and explain what is happening and why the kind of issues that we see…,” Krishnan was quoted as saying by ANI.According to Krishnan, Meta has also informed the government that it introduced new protocols on July 28 for handling accounts of prominent individuals to prevent similar incidents from recurring.“Meta has written to government expressing regret over the incident and that it had happened. They have also given us the reasons, their understanding of the reason why it happened and they have also indicated that as of 28th of July, they have established new protocols relating to accounts of prominent persons to avoid such a situation from recurring.” He said the government wants to understand the concerns from both policy and technical perspectives and assess how the company can adapt its practices to address India’s concerns.Krishnan said the government is examining the matter and has sought inputs from several messaging platforms as part of its assessment. He added that Meta has written to the government expressing regret over the incident and explaining its understanding of the reasons behind it.When asked about the timeline for Meta’s representatives to appear before the government, he said, “I think within the next week, ten days. We are examining that. We have got the views of a number of the platforms, messaging platforms,” he said.
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“We are examining. We have got we have got the views of a number of the platforms, messaging platforms,” Krishnan said on WhatsApp issue. The development follows a recent technical glitch on the platform. On Tuesday, Meta said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Facebook video on action against examination paper leaks was inadvertently removed due to a technical error. The video was later restored after being briefly unavailable.“The content was removed in error and has since been restored,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement. In the video, PM Modi assured students that the government would introduce stricter measures to tackle examination paper leaks. He said the proposed reforms would be taken up by the Union Cabinet before being introduced in Parliament.The video was released amid nationwide protests over alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG examination.