The algorithm says sorry

Algorithms, unlike politicians, bureaucrats, or journalists, rarely hold press conferences. They do not explain themselves, issue clarifications, or blame the copy desk. They simply do what they are designed to do, until one day they do something spectacularly inconvenient. Then, suddenly, humans reappear to explain that the algorithm did not quite mean what it did. That, in many ways, sums up Meta’s latest encounter with the Indian government.

The company apologised after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Facebook post briefly disappeared from the platform, attributing the episode to an AI-powered automated system. The explanation sounded familiar.