India tightens regulatory grip on Facebook, WhatsApp with new rules

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India announced new rules on Thursday to regulate content on social media, making Facebook, WhatsApp and others more accountable to legal requests for swift removal of posts and sharing details on the originators of messages.

The rules — part of an effort by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nationalist government to tighten the leash on Big Tech — come after Twitter recently ignored government orders to drop content related to farmers’ protests.

India is the largest market by users for both Facebook and its messenger service WhatsApp.