Parliament panel gives Zuckerberg 3 days to apologise over PM Modi video removal
A parliamentary standing committee on Wednesday, Aug 3rd, asked Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg to issue an unconditional apology within three days over the temporary removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's video from Facebook, warning that failure to do so could invite action under the Information Technology Act.
In a letter to the secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the committee said the removal of the prime minister's video addressing students and Gen Z on examination controversies and paper leaks for several hours was viewed seriously.
The panel said Zuckerberg should tender an unconditional apology within three days of receiving the letter, failing which the government should consider withdrawing intermediary protection under Section 79(3) of the IT Act and treat Meta as a publisher.
The committee also urged the government to take action against intermediary platforms that fail to remove child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and content degrading women, saying such platforms should face action under Section 79(3) of the IT Act.
It further called for action against Google India in connection with an alleged cyber fraud case in Hyderabad in which investors reportedly lost more than Rs 48 lakh through fraudulent investment apps.
The directions followed a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on information technology on Monday with officials from the Ministries of Home Affairs and Electronics and IT, along with representatives of Meta, Google, X, Snapchat and YouTube, to discuss regulation of digital and social media platforms.
Committee chairman Nishikant Dubey alleged the temporary removal of the prime minister's official Facebook post was a serious matter and questioned whether it reflected a major system failure or a deliberate attempt to tarnish the prime minister's image.
Meta has attributed the removal to a technical error and restored the video. While the company apologised for the incident, MeitY described its explanation as "inadequate".