Union IT minister's message to Google, Microsoft, Facebook: ‘Start taking responsibility for what you publish’

Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has urged digital platforms Facebook parent Meta, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, among others to start taking responsibility for what they publish, and devise technical and business process solutions to counter misinformation that could harm society and democracy. He also emphasised that the government a well-considered legal framework to address deepfakes and misinformation will be finalised post-elections.

“...Misinformation in a vibrant and diverse democracy like ours, can really be very harmful. It can be harmful for society, for democracy, for the electoral process, and it can really impact our future and [the] harmony of the society in a big way,” Vaishnaw said.

As India approaches the election season, digital platforms have intensified efforts to ensure election integrity. On its part, the government has issued advisories, emphasising zero tolerance for misinformation and deepfakes circulating on social media.

"We have been very categorical in our discussions with the platforms...they have taken many steps, they are continuously taking many steps, and immediately after the elections are over, we will certainly be coming up with [a] very well thought-through legal structure...,” news agency PTI quoted Vaishnaw as saying.

The development comes a week after the government issued an advisory for social media and other platforms to label under-trial AI models and prevent the hosting of unlawful content. About two weeks ago, Google drew criticism over its AI tool Gemini's ‘biased’ response to a question on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Google, Microsoft, Meta must start taking responsibility
Vaishnaw said that top technology companies like Meta, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic “must start taking responsibility for what they publish.”

“They are doing that in a great way, they have their own policies. Many of those policies are today leading to either taking down something or they have their own algorithms,” he said.

“So, the platforms have been very clearly told that they must come out with technical as well as business process solutions, by which the deepfakes and misinformation can be prevented from getting onto the platform,” Vaishnaw added.