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In an advisory issued on September 3, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) urged all intermediaries to promptly and proactively remove fake content, following a Bombay High Court directive. 

The HC required Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, and Telegram to delete all false information, including altered videos and profiles related to the National Stock Exchange (NSE), within 10 hours of receiving a complaint.

"The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology wishes to remind intermediaries of their duty to swiftly remove any prohibited material at the earliest opportunity. Intermediaries are advised to complete the takedown process, where necessary, as proactively as possible without waiting for the time limits set in the Rules, which serve only as an upper threshold.”

The advisory referred to the Information Technology Act and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. Under the IT Act, IT Rules 2021, and the 2015 Supreme Court ruling in the Shreya Singhal case, intermediaries are required to take down "unlawful information" within 36 hours of receiving "actual knowledge," either via a court order or a notice from the "Appropriate Government".

In July this year, India’s National Stock Exchange (NSE) warned investors about deepfake videos falsely featuring its CEO, Ashishkumar Chauhan, in some investment and stock advisory videos. 

Recently, the Mumbai police filed a case against the Maharashtra Youth Congress’ social media account and 16 others for allegedly sharing a deepfake video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Multiple well-known personalities, including Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Elon Musk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Tom Cruise, Scarlett Johansson, and Emma Watson, have also fallen victim to deepfake videos on the internet. Similar such cases have been reported widely across the country.


MeitY issues advisory to intermediaries, urges to remove fake content swiftly

The Australian Parliament on Wednesday grilled two top executives of Meta from Facebook and Instagram. The executives were summoned by the parliament for a hearing involving ongoing probe of news practices on the social media networks. 

According to The Australian, Antigone Davis, Meta’s global head of safety at Meta, and Mia Garlick, a regional director of policy for Australia, were summoned back to parliament after attending a hearing in June.

Their appearance follows a June hearing where Garlick avoided confirming whether Facebook would ban news in Australia, stating, “all options are on the table.” This comes after Meta announced it would not renew deals under the News Media Bargaining Code, which requires the company to pay publishers for news content on the platform.
 
According to reports by The Australian newspaper, Sharon Claydon, the new chair of the social media committee, said she intends to probe Meta on the claims made during the previous hearing.

“Australians are increasingly concerned about the influence and impact of social media on so many areas of our society, including our mental health, wellbeing, safety, and social cohesion,” said the Labour MP. Claydon also expressed interest in clarifying Meta's decision to halt its agreements with Australian news outlets.

This follows Meta's announcement in June 2024 that it is considering blocking news content in Australia if the government forces the platform to pay licensing fees. Meta has previously struck deals with major Australian media outlets, including News Corp and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, but has indicated it will not renew these arrangements beyond 2024.

Publishers say such a move would be “catastrophic”. One claimed it would lose 52 percent of its income if the ban went ahead.

According to media reports, Garlick said, “We haven’t had any indication about which way things are progressing and so there’s nothing further to update.” She also confirmed that Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg had not yet met with anyone from the Australian government.

Garlick and Davis were also questioned over child safety on the company’s apps. Davis said the country should enforce laws that require parents to approve downloading of the Facebook and Instagram apps by children under 16 in their care.

Davis’ answer did not impress Member of Parliament Zoe Daniels, who said Meta was “shirking responsibility.”

“So you will support some level of age assurance or age verification, as long as you don’t have to do it yourselves,” she added.

Australian Parliament grills top Meta executives over digital news policy

As state governments in India increasingly rely on the popularity of influencers, a key question arises: Will these state governments reduce their spending on traditional media platforms in favor of targeting younger audiences on digital platforms like Meta and Google? Experts believe that the state governments will reduce its Print budget and allocate it to influencer marketing. 

Recently, the Karnataka state government introduced the Karnataka Digital Advertising Guidelines-2024, which allows digital media entities, including social media influencers, to receive government advertisements. Similarly, the Uttar Pradesh Government announced the Social Media Policy 2024, enabling social media influencers to earn up to Rs 8 lakh per month by promoting state government schemes.

Experts believe that the funds allocated to these schemes and policies will impact the state governments' spending on traditional media. Anup Sharma, a PR & Strategic Communications Consultant, stated, "Various reports and trends show that Generation Z and millennials are gravitating towards social, user-generated video content because it's free, convenient, and they can endlessly scroll through content that is algorithmically targeted to their interests."

Sharma further noted, "This highlights the effectiveness of social media algorithms and the influence of content creators and influencers. Like businesses, the government has also recognized this trend and is increasingly using social media to engage with citizens, share information, and deliver services more quickly and effectively."

Elaborating further, Sharma added, "This will lead to a shift in advertising budgets, with content creators and influencers taking a significant share from print media, such as newspapers and magazines. TV will continue to hold a larger share due to higher rates, followed closely by print and social media. While the budget allocation may be small now, it wouldn't be surprising to see advertising on content creator- and influencer-led social media platforms increasing at a faster rate than on other platforms."

The Union government spent Rs 967.46 crore through the Central Bureau of Communication on awareness/publicity campaigns about Indian government schemes and programs through print media from 2019-20 to 2023-24 (as of 12.12.2023). TV still receives 60 percent of the budget, followed by print and outdoor media.

Shudeep Majumdar, Co-founder and CEO of Zefmo, commented, "Regarding the potential decrease in spending on traditional media due to state governments investing in influencers, it's plausible to anticipate some shift in budget allocation. As digital platforms increasingly become the primary source of information and entertainment for a large segment of the population, especially among younger demographics, governments are recognizing the value of leveraging these channels for broader reach and engagement."

Majumdar also mentioned, "The impact on traditional media sectors like print and television will likely vary. Television may experience a lesser impact compared to print, given that it still captures a significant share of advertising spend and audience engagement, especially in contexts like live sports, local news, and entertainment. Print media, however, might face greater challenges as it has been on a declining trend with respect to advertising revenue and circulation, exacerbated by the digital shift."

Discussing the paradigm shift, Majumdar said, "From an agency perspective, the increasing government investment in the influencer marketing sector opens up a myriad of new opportunities while also introducing challenges and potential shifts in both operational and ethical paradigms that influencers and their partners must navigate."

Speaking about the impact of these policies on the influencer ecosystem in the country, Rohit Agarwal, Founder and Director of Alpha Zegus, stated, "While the opportunity offered by state governments is very lucrative, influencers will have to navigate the social dilemma of balancing content freedom with monetary gain. They will also need to consider that if they are asked to endorse a particular political party, they will need to align their morals and beliefs with that party."

According to Google's transparency report for the period between October 3 and November 1, total spending on political advertising amounted to Rs 69,15,500. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led the chart with an expenditure of Rs 33,60,000. Other notable contributors included the Directorate of Public Relations, Madhya Pradesh at Rs 5,04,000; the Department of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) at Rs 2,30,000; Indian Pac Consulting Private Limited at Rs 2,19,000; and the Indian National Congress at Rs 1,39,000.

According to Meta’s ad library report, the BJP and its known affiliates spent Rs 2.5 crore on political ads in Maharashtra, a figure higher than in Uttar Pradesh.

Influencers likely to take a pie from State governments’ traditional media budget

Lately, one-second reels and content around sports, especially cricket on Meta's social media platforms have been gaining significant traction, with many creators adopting these trends. On Thursday, Meta launched its Creator Lab in India, an educational content series featuring popular Instagram creators from India. The series will be available in English and Hindi, with captions in five additional languages.

In addition, Instagram has introduced new features such as comments in stories, birthday notes, and cutouts in DMs. Paras Sharma, Director of Global Partnerships for India at Meta, spoke to Storyboard18 about content trends in India. He also discussed how the Gen Z audience is adapting to newer trends like one-second reels and sports content on the platform.

Talking about trends on Instagram, Sharma said, “I think there are a couple of ways to look at it. There are momentary trends that are very specific in nature, and then there are longer-term behavioral changes in content creation and user engagement. We are also noticing experimental content on the platform, which is largely created and consumed by Gen Z creators and audiences.”

He added, “We mainly pick up signals from Gen Zs because they are the biggest experimenters. They are the fastest to adopt something new and also the quickest to pivot to something else depending on technological changes.”

When asked about Meta’s investment in sports properties, Sharma said, “There are two aspects: global events and India-specific events. For example, the ICC has its cricket calendar for India, so these events aren't hosted by Meta. Similarly, a movie release is part of the broader ecosystem.”

Sharma said, “So, if there's a cricket tournament that's part of the Indian cricket calendar, like the Indian Premier League, there are different stakeholders involved, including our partners, whether it's a broadcaster like Star Sports or other networks. Likewise, we work closely with teams or franchises like Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. We also engage with former cricketers, athletes, and commentators on an ongoing basis during these tournaments, creating meaningful collaboration opportunities for creators, something we have been doing for years.”

During these events, we bring creators on board to produce content, demonstrating our continued investment and commitment to events on the calendar. He added.

When asked if content related to cricket is increasing on Meta platforms, Sharma said, “Cricket is the largest sport in India. Internationally, we work closely with the ICC, and in India, we collaborate with the BCCI and broadcasters like JioCinema and Hotstar.”

Expanding on sports content on Meta platforms, Sharma said, “When we look at our own study on Gen Z and sports fandom in India, cricket is the biggest, followed by badminton, even before the Olympics. We are also seeing highly passionate communities for football and Formula 1.”

When asked if the duration of content creation on Meta platforms has decreased, Sharma said, “There’s a format trend right now, and one-second content is part of that trend. But the real cause behind it is the behavior of the audience. There is a need to reduce the pressure of content creation. Creators don’t want to spend too much time and prefer to show their real selves, making their content more conversational on Instagram.”

Sharma explained, “This is about everyday creativity that isn't polished but is instead a quick reflection of this generation's desire to create a conversational, quirky piece—whether it's an audio clip, a physical movement, or a visual element.”

He further noted, “We're seeing more and more creators emerging from tier two and tier three towns, and that trend is here to stay. This is a moment-in-time trend, using Meta-AI, and India is the largest country for the use of Meta-AI. The reason why this one-second reel format is gaining traction on Instagram is that a huge number of people are engaging with it, and we have seen some amazing content come out of it.”

Cricket content, one-sec reels booming on our platforms in India: Meta


EU regulators launched an investigation on April 30th to see if Meta violated the Digital Services Act (DSA).

In a press statement, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: "This Commission has created means to protect European citizens from targeted disinformation and manipulation by third countries. If we suspect a violation of the rules, we act. This is true at all times, but especially in times of democratic elections. Big digital platforms must live up to their obligations to put enough resources into this and today's decision shows that we are serious about compliance.”


The alleged violations involve Meta's policies and practices regarding deceptive advertising and political content across its services. Additionally, there are concerns about the lack of an efficient third-party real-time civic discourse and election-monitoring tool prior to the European Parliament elections. This arises as Meta deprecated its real-time public insights tool, CrowdTangle, without a suitable alternative.


As per the press release, the Commission further suspects that the mechanism for flagging illegal content on the services (“Notice-and-Action”) as well as the user redress and internal complaint-mechanisms are not compliant with the requirements of the Digital Services Act and that there are shortcomings in Meta's provision of access to publicly available data to researchers. 


The initiation of proceedings stems from an initial review of the risk assessment report provided by Meta in September 2023, Meta's responses to the Commission's official Requests for Information (regarding illegal content and disinformation, data access, subscription for ad-free policy, and generative AI), publicly accessible reports, and the Commission's independent analysis.



The proceedings will focus on deceptive advertisements and disinformation, visibility of political content, the non-availability of an effective third-party real-time civic discourse and election-monitoring tool ahead of the upcoming elections to the European Parliament and other elections in various Member States and the mechanism to flag illegal content.


EU launches investigation into Meta over potential Digital Services Act violations

To combat the growing threat of deepfakes, the Misinformation Combat Alliance (MCA) and Meta are teaming up to launch a dedicated fact-checking helpline on WhatsApp.
 
The helpline will be available for the public to use in March 2024. 

 
The initiative will allow MCA and its associated network of independent fact-checkers and research organisations to address viral misinformation – particularly deepfakes. Users will be able to flag deepfakes by sending it to the WhatsApp chatbot which will offer multilingual support in English and three regional languages (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu). 

 
MCA will set up a central ‘deepfake analysis unit’ to manage all inbound messages they receive on the WhatsApp helpline. They will work closely with member fact-checking organisations as well as industry partners and digital labs to assess and verify the content and respond to the messages accordingly, debunking false claims and misinformation. 

 
The focus of the program is to implement a four-pillar approach – detection, prevention, reporting and driving awareness around the escalating spread of deepfakes along with building a critical instrument that allows citizens to access reliable information to fight the spread of such misinformation. 

 
 
“We recognize the concerns around AI-generated misinformation and believe combatting this requires concrete and cooperative measures across the industry. Our collaboration with MCA to launch a WhatsApp helpline dedicated to debunking deepfakes that can materially deceive people is consistent with our pledge under the Tech Accord to Combat Deceptive Use of AI in 2024 Elections,” said Shivnath Thukral, Director, Public Policy India, Meta.


“As a company that has been at the cutting edge of AI development for more than a decade, we remain committed to work with industry stakeholders to introduce common technical standards for AI detection, transparency solutions and policies, along with empowering people on our platforms with resources and tools that make it simpler for them to identify content that has been generated using AI tools and curb the spread of misinformation,” Thukral added.

 
“The Deepfakes Analysis Unit (DAU) will serve as a critical and timely intervention to arrest the spread of AI-enabled disinformation among social media and internet users in India. Its formation highlights the collaboration and whole-of-society approach to foster a healthy information ecosystem that the MCA was set up for,” said Bharat Gupta, President, Misinformation Combat Alliance. 



“The initiative will see IFCN (Indian Fact Checking Network) signatory fact-checkers, journalists, civic tech professionals, research labs and forensic experts come together, with Meta's support. We hope the DAU will become a trusted resource for the public to discern between real and AI generated media and we invite more stakeholders to be a part of the initiative,” Gupta added.


MCA and Meta join forces to curb AI generated misinformation with WhatsApp helpline

Following the ministry's advisory to social media companies, urging prompt action on AI-generated content, they have also received an invitation for a meeting with the cabinet minister of the Electronics and Information Technology ministry, Ashwini Vaishnaw. The meeting is scheduled for November 23.

The ministry has been proactive in tackling this issue.

In the advisory, social media intermediaries were asked to ensure that due diligence is exercised and reasonable efforts are made to identify misinformation and deepfakes, and in particular, information that violates the provisions of rules and regulations and/or user agreements.

“Such cases are expeditiously actioned against, well within the timeframes stipulated under the IT Rules 2021, and users are caused not to host such information/content/deep fakes and remove any such content when reported within 36 hours of such reporting,” the advisory said. 
“Ensure expeditious action, well within the timeframes stipulated under the IT Rules 2021, and disable access to the content / information,” the advisory added.

On November 18, cabinet minister, Vaishnaw said that while intermediaries had responded to the advisory outlining their measures to address deepfakes, the government believed that more substantial efforts were necessary.

As per reports, during the upcoming meeting chaired by Vaishnav, as per reports, the government is set to unveil a standard operating procedure (SoP) guiding social media platforms on how to handle deepfakes within their domains.




MeitY plans meeting with social media giants to address deepfake concerns

India has always been an important market for Meta. Now, in a bid to strengthen advertiser relations in the country, Meta has launched a no-cost EMI scheme.

Advertisers will now be able to pay the platform over a period of three months through participating banks. Meta will bear the applicable interest payable to the bank, and give it as an upfront discount to the business on its ad spends. 

Working capital access is a concern for many new and growing businesses in the country. With No Cost EMI billing, they can choose any amount between Rs 3,200 and Rs 5,00,000 to convert to EMIs.

Interestingly, India is the first market where Meta has launched the No Cost EMI scheme. 

Over the last three years, the Internet giant has been working to enable easier access to timely credit. It started in 2020, where as a part of their USD 100 million global grant for small businesses, grants were announced for small businesses across five cities in India. 

The following year a Small Business Loans Initiative was also launched to enable business loans for Meta’s small business advertisers through third-party lending platforms. This too was an India-first initiative within Meta.

This program has now expanded to 19000+ pin codes across India, which is almost the entire length and breadth of the country. This means that Meta advertisers from even the smallest towns and villages can now apply for collateral-free business loans from as little as Rs 30,000 to as much as Rs 1 crore.

The last few years have seen the boom of small businesses that have taken to digital platforms for all their marketing communication activities. 

At the annual Grow Your Business Summit where Meta announced the no cost EMI scheme, they also announced a 24 x 7 chat support for all their advertisers in India. This service can be accessed through the ‘support’ option on the Meta Business Help Center.

According to Ajit Mohan, VP and MD (Facebook India) Meta, with these initiatives, every advertiser on Meta in India, irrespective of their ad spends, will have access to financial and service support, at the click of a button to unlock new growth opportunities.

“We know that each business is on a distinct journey, and we are committed to building India-focused solutions keeping in mind their unique needs. We hope that the initiatives that we have announced during Grow Your Business Summit will help small businesses achieve their business goals with greater flexibility and ease,” he said.

India is the first country where Meta launched a No Cost EMI for advertisers

Meta and an e-commerce venture between India’s Reliance Retail and Jio Platforms are all set to bring grocery shopping to WhatsApp. Touted as a global-first end-to-end shopping experience on the popular instant messaging platform, the launch has been tested since the last two years.
 
Users in India can start shopping on JioMart via WhatsApp by simply sending ‘Hi’ to the JioMart number on WhatsApp.

Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director, Reliance Industries says, “Mark (Zuckerberg) and I shared a vision of bringing more people and businesses online and creating truly innovative solutions that will add convenience to the daily lives of every Indian. The JioMart on WhatsApp experience furthers our commitment of enabling a simple and convenient way of online shopping to millions of Indians.”

JioMart on WhatsApp will enable people in India, including those who have never shopped online before, to seamlessly browse through JioMart’s entire grocery catalog. Shoppers can add items to their cart and make a payment to complete the purchase — all without leaving the WhatsApp chat.
 
WhatsApp, which is used by about half a billion Indians each month, got the approval to extend its UPI-powered payments service to 100 million users in the country earlier this year after several delays. If the shopping experience picks up then it could be a major revenue source for WhatsApp which has largely avoided serving ads to app users.

“Excited to launch our partnership with JioMart in India. This is our first-ever end-to-end shopping experience on WhatsApp -- people can now buy groceries from JioMart right in a chat. Business messaging is an area with real momentum and chat-based experiences like this will be the go-to way people and businesses communicate in the years to come,” says Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a statement.

 

How Meta and JioMart plan to disrupt grocery shopping with WhatsApp

Meta is hosting its inaugural marketing summit in India this month. The event is meant for senior business leaders and will specifically address questions around profitability and growth in the changing macroeconomic environment.

Storyboard 18 caught up with Sandeep Bhushan, the outgoing Director and Head of GMS, India at Meta and spoke to him about Reels, the Instagram algorithm and the impact of current macroeconomic factors on businesses. Excerpts:

Tell us about the inaugural Meta Marketing Summit happening this month. What is this event all about?

Meta connects communities and businesses close to those communities. Our journey has been from text to video to metaverse. At all points in time, businesses are on our platforms; globally 200 million of them looking for consumers that are best placed to look for products that business offers.

The current context makes it quite interesting. Which is where consumers have moved to digital; Facebook alone, for example, has more than 30 million users. And consumers are showing massive digital influence.

In the last couple of years, the propensity to buy on digital or to communicate on digital is up by 25 percent. Because of the massive scale of the internet, consumers are ready. And business has moved online hugely over the last two years.

The current context, therefore, provides a new opportunity for platforms like us to offer solutions when businesses want to make some tough choices given the macroeconomic environment. So we are very happy to be here talking to businesses about how they can move the agenda of growth and profitability.

Brands and businesses are facing uncertainty and inflationary headwinds. What's the sentiment and how is Facebook placed in this context?

As a marketer there is a hypothesis that maybe I have to let go of growth if I have to be profitable. Advertising spend, for example, gets cut first. Our opportunity is to actually do both. That happens because of our platforms and how they are able to connect consumers to businesses.

Of the three broad factors, the first is reach. The thesis is clear - more reach is good for a brand as long as you are able to segment your communication for the reach. Second is deep consumer engagement; therefore, the opportunity for brands to talk engagingly - to illustrate, reels is massive on our platform. Six million Reels are created every day. And then you look at ads too; you can go, for example, to ‘pin code’ targeting all the way to global targeting then walk the consumer across the funnel. For example, when the consumer journey pauses to ask a question, messaging through WhatsApp is an option. And therefore walking the consumers at a massive scale to the desired outcome is a possibility.

The kind of push that Meta is giving to Reels is immense. Can you tell us the reason for this? And how are brands using Reels?

Consumers always wanted to experiment, and it was only limited by the tools that we offered them. All of us are doing videos now. On Reels, at the scale of six million, the third are built with AR effects. Consumers using AR effects to talk in Reels. Because they want the editing suite in their hand and express themselves. More than two-thirds are folks ‘Born on Instagram’ which is a programme to get more and more creators.

More than two-thirds of our creators come from non-metro cities. The music that they use is Indian. So there is no surprise that Indian playlists actually topped global for Meta on the use of Reels. Therefore massive scale, deep expression and deep localization sets up brand possibilities.

Brands like L’Oréal across their portfolio as a company have used Reels to drive both brand and sales outcomes. So Reels is here, the question is can brands understand that creative landscape and get closer to consumers? Consumer is already there, it is time for the brands to make the move.

What is the kind of interest and enthusiasm around Metaverse?

Every brand and every community is thinking metaverse. And brands not just in advertising. For example, a gaming company like GTA will be on Quest. Now how exciting and interesting an experience is that. BYJU’s is building a learning space for the metaverse and now you can imagine the width and the depth of the learning that is possible. Nestle is doing their own sales team immersions into their global production unit to get them to understand the product. So across the business, there is the possibility of metaverse. Brands are showing up as well. It is extremely clear that if you engage more deeply, the propensity to want the brand is higher.

At this point in time, therefore, multiple Indian brands are also on the journey. But it is first important to embrace the principle. 

<blockquote>The principle is interactivity, users and creators and building assets for the media. When we see AR as step one of that journey, we are beginning to move.</blockquote>

For example, Lakme is doing try-ons for lipsticks using influencers on Instagram AR. So they ticked the boxes on influencers, celebrities, etc., endorsing your category, they ticked the boxes on interactivity and actually it is a use case that cannot be done offline. Consumers who are using reels, 35 percent of them are already on AR.

What do the next few months look like from a brand's perspective on Meta platforms?

Brands that will be able to take a sharp view of growth will win the market share. Consumers are online, if they play the full funnel then there is a massive possibility for brands. Both perception market share and sales market share is for the taking as the ecosystem takes a bit of a breather. This is the time to go because consumers are waiting. What is the profitable way to do that is the question and we think we have the tools.

META