India Weighs Ending Safe Harbour for Meta, Google and X

The argument behind the review is that platforms may no longer be passive intermediaries when their recommendation algorithms decide what users see and how widely it spreads. Removing the protection from social media would likely require amendments to the IT Act and parliamentary approval.

Pressure from several sides

The talks come amid scrutiny over harmful content, child safety and algorithmic feeds. The Supreme Court has sought responses from the Centre and Meta on a PIL seeking a framework to protect children from algorithmic addiction and online harms. The petition, filed by Sreerupa Chowdhury, points to features such as infinite scrolling, autoplay and push notifications, and raises concerns over weak age verification, online grooming and child sexual abuse material.

In its October 15 order in the Just Rights for Children Alliance vs S Harish case, the court called for a separate penalty framework, including monetary fines, for non-compliant platforms. It said withdrawal of safe harbour should be reserved for serious violations. A Parliamentary Standing Committee has also urged stronger action.

Relations between New Delhi and the platforms have been strained in recent months. In July, the IT Ministry summoned Meta's global policy executives after Facebook briefly withheld a video uploaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the students' protests, in which Instagram was a key mobilising tool. Reports in September suggested Meta could lose its intermediary status in India.

Any move to withdraw the protection is likely to meet resistance from the technology industry and civil society groups.