A parliamentary standing committee has given Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg a three-day ultimatum today (August 5) to issue an apology for Facebook taking down Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video for a few hours, reports say.
The media has reported that the panel told Meta that the company’s legal immunity could be revoked if the apology does not come.
The news outlet is among those to have reported on a letter from the Lok Sabha Secretariat in which the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology – headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Nishikant Dubey – has asked for the withdrawal of Instagram’s safe harbour after Facebook removed a Modi video on July 23.
The video was an address by Modi amidst the youth protests at Jantar Mantar and elsewhere in the country. Hours later, Meta reinstated the video on Facebook, saying that the removal was caused by a technical glitch, and in error.
In the message, Modi had said that “paper leaks are no trivial matter” and that his government had taken several steps to stop paper leaks in the last two months.
“I know that paper leaks are no trivial matter. It is extremely painful for millions of students and their parents. And therefore, in the past two and a half months since the paper leak incident, numerous steps have been taken. The culprits have been caught, and they are now behind bars,” Modi had said in the video.
Modi has published four such Reel-formatted posts so far – a fact that has exposed him to no small measure of consternation from youth who have commented on how it has come as an obvious move to ingratiate the government with angry youth.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) hassummoned Meta’s global head of public policy Joel Kaplan over the issue twice, reports say.
The parliamentary panel letter was addressed to IT Secretary S. Krishnan, and copied to Home Secretary Govind Mohan.
“During the deliberations, the Committee demanded an apology from Mr. Mark Zukerberg, Meta Chief on this issue,” the Committee wrote in the letter. “If he fails to tender an unqualified apology within 3 days of receipt of this letter, the protection/immunity given under Section 79(3) of IT Act may be withdrawn and action taken against him as a Publisher.”
Section 79(3) of the IT Act outlines the exceptions where digital intermediaries (like social media platforms and websites) lose their legal immunity, or “safe harbour” protection, for user-generated content.
“The removal of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s video addressing students and Gen Z regarding examination controversies and strict actions against paper leaks from Facebook for 5-6 hours [is] viewed very seriously by the Committee,” said the letter signed by A. Jyothirmayi, reported media.
Jyothirmayi is director at the Lok Sabha secretariat.
The panel also sought action by the government against Google India in connection with alleged cyber fraud cases, after discussing a matter where investors claimed losses of more than Rs 48 lakh through fraudulent applications.
“The Committee while discussing Hyderabad Cyber Police Action against the Google India Head as a co-accused along with the cyber fraudsters after the complainants alleged that they lost more than Rs 48 lakhs by investing through fraud Apps, desired that similar action be taken against Google India by the Government of India,” the letter said.
The committee also cited the media report on child sex abuse material (CSAM) advertisements on Instagram and demanded action against intermediary platforms that carry CSAM and demeaning material against women.
While media has reported quoting unnamed government sources that Zuckerberg has apologised for these operational errors, there is no notification or statement from Meta yet.
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