New Delhi: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has faced growing pressure from Indian authorities after a video posted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefly removed from Facebook last month.
The issue began after a video posted by Modi was temporarily unavailable on Facebook. The video, uploaded during student protests over the NEET examination issue, included Modi discussing concerns around paper leaks and the government’s proposed response.
Meta later said the content had been “removed in error” and restored it. The company attributed the incident to an error rather than a deliberate decision to restrict the Prime Minister’s content.
The explanation, however, did not end the controversy.
India’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology took up the matter and sought an explanation from Meta. On August 3 and 4, committee chairman Nishikant Dubey said Zuckerberg should personally apologise over the incident. The panel also warned that Meta could face consequences involving its safe-harbour protection if the issue was not adequately addressed.
Safe harbour is an important legal protection for internet platforms. In broad terms, it protects intermediaries from being held directly responsible for user-generated content, subject to compliance with Indian law and other requirements.
The parliamentary pressure escalated further when the committee reportedly asked Zuckerberg to provide an unconditional apology within three days.
Meta’s situation in India became more complicated because the discussions with authorities were not limited to the Modi video. Government officials also raised concerns involving child sexual abuse material, deepfakes and other platform-operation issues. Meta representatives apologised to the government over several of these matters, according to reports.
The controversy is particularly important because India is one of Meta’s largest markets. Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp have hundreds of millions of users in the country, making regulatory relations with New Delhi strategically important for the company.
