Meta CEO Mark ​Zuckerberg apologises to Indian government

NEW DELHI: A parliamentary committee demanded that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally apologise for the temporary removal of a Facebook video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Otherwise, the committee warned that it would recommend withdrawing Meta's 'safe harbour' protection in India. PM Modi’s video to the youth assuring them of strict action to prevent question paper leaks was removed from Facebook, leading the social media giant to face the wrath of the government.

Meanwhile, according to the latest update, Meta CEO Zuckerberg has apologised to the Indian government for Meta promoting child sexual content, operational errors and also for wrongly taking down the video of the Indian Prime Minister.

After the video was taken down from Facebook, the parliamentary committee summoned Meta representatives and grilled them with tough questions. The IT Parliamentary Standing Committee, chaired by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, met with the Meta representatives.

The committee deemed Meta's explanation for the removal of the Prime Minister's video unsatisfactory. The committee demanded that Zuckerberg issue an unconditional apology within three days. Meta said that the video shared on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Facebook account was temporarily removed due to a technical glitch. Later, Meta restored the same video. Meta also expressed regret over the removal of the video. However, the parliamentary committee is not ready to buy this claim. The central government made it clear that if Zuckerberg does not apologise directly, the safe harbour protection provided to Meta under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act will be withdrawn.

What is the ‘Safe Harbour’ protection?

Under Indian IT laws, Safe Harbour protects digital platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and X from being directly legally responsible for the content posted by users. Experts point out that if this protection is lost, companies like Meta may have to take direct legal responsibility for the content published on the platforms.