An Indian parliamentary panel has demanded an apology from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg over the temporary removal of a July 23 video featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The video, which showed Modi addressing students during youth-led protests on July 23, was briefly taken down from Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram before being restored.
The parliamentary committee, chaired by BJP lawmaker Nishikant Dubey, described the removal of the Prime Minister’s video as an “attack on democracy,” noting that Modi represents more than 1.4 billion Indians.
“If Facebook does not take action against those responsible, the Safe Harbour Clause will be withdrawn. Mark Zuckerberg will have to apologise. Otherwise, legal action may be initiated,” the panel said.
The committee warned that revoking Meta’s safe harbour protection would allow law enforcement agencies to file First Information Reports (FIRs) directly against officials of the social media platform, with the approval of the central government.
Dubey accused Meta of abusing the legal protection granted under the safe harbour provision.
“We wrote to the Ministry of Information Technology and the Ministry of Home Affairs stating that deleting the Prime Minister’s video was not the responsibility of an intermediary but that of a publisher. Therefore, Mark Zuckerberg must apologise within three days. If he fails to do so, we will revoke the safe harbour protection currently provided to social media platforms, a privilege they have been misusing,” he said.
He further warned that if those affected by similar content removals begin filing FIRs against Meta, the company could face widespread legal action across the country.
Following widespread criticism, Meta restored the video and attributed its removal to a technical glitch.
Although the company apologised for the incident, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology rejected the explanation, describing it as “not reasonable.” The ministry added that if the incident was indeed caused by a technical error, Meta, as a technology company, should improve its systems to prevent similar occurrences in the future.
