Still Buffering: Meta’s Integration with Sahyog Stuck in Digital Limbo

Image Source: Mint

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is also absent from the Indian government's Sahyog portal—a one-stop-shop to streamline takedown requests and content moderation on online platforms. The lag has led to new scrutiny in light of fears of online disinformation, deepfakes, and safety.

Key points of legal releases

- Solicitor General Tushar Mehta testified in court records that Meta also needs to be onboarded onto Sahyog, therefore becoming the second big tech firm after X to still be outside the purview of the portal
- Sahyog enables government agencies to issue real-time takedowns, outside the traditional legal procedure under Section 69A of the IT Act
- Although 38 intermediaries such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Telegram, and YouTube are currently on board, Meta's integration is yet to be technically tested.

Status and implications

1. Meta is busy integrating its backends with Sahyog through APIs, but bugs have delayed full onboarding
2. The portal is the focal point of X's court case, which argues that it creates unconstitutional parallel censorship mechanisms
3. Meta has already blocked more than 14,000 pieces of content in India on government orders, but its omission from Sahyog is raising alarm bells regarding consistency and compliance
4. The government argues that the portal is critical to national security and public order, specifically in cybercrime and disinformation issues

Why it matters

In light of India being one of the largest markets for Meta, its delayed entry into Sahyog places the struggle between platform sovereignty and state control in the age of the internet.

Sources: Hindustan Times, Inc42, The Hindu, IndiaLaw.in, Brand Safety Institute