A Parliamentary Standing Committee has sought an apology from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg within three days over the temporary removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Facebook video, warning that legal protections and immunity available to the company chief could be withdrawn if he fails to respond.
In a letter sent to the Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the Lok Sabha Secretariat said the committee viewed the incident with utmost seriousness.
The letter stated:"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." The committee directed that Zuckerberg issue an apology within three days, failing which it warned that his legal protection and immunity could be withdrawn.
Prime Minister Modi had posted the video on July 23, addressing students amid Gen Z-led protests at Jantar Mantar. In the video, he assured the youth that the government would strengthen laws against paper leaks and establish fast-track courts to deal with such cases.
On July 28, the video disappeared from the Prime Minister's official Facebook page, with users seeing a notice stating that the content had been withheld in India following a "legal request."
Meta later restored the video, saying it had been removed due to a technical error.
"The content was removed in error and has since been restored," a Meta spokesperson said.
However, the explanation failed to satisfy lawmakers, prompting the Ministry of Electronics and IT to seek a detailed written response from Meta within 10 days.
The issue was discussed during a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology on August 3, where representatives of Meta, Google and YouTube appeared before the panel.
Committee Chairman Nishikant Dubey described the removal as a "highly serious issue", saying it was either "a failure of the system or a deliberate attempt to tarnish the image" of the Prime Minister and could not simply be dismissed as a technical glitch.
Several BJP MPs also questioned Meta over alleged algorithmic bias, arguing that objectionable content remained on the platform while legitimate content was removed.
The committee also urged the Government of India to take action against Google India after investors allegedly lost over ₹48 lakh through fraudulent investment apps.
According to the letter: "The Committee desired that similar action be taken against Google India by the Government of India.”
The recommendation follows action by the Hyderabad Cyber Police, which named the head of Google India as a co-accused alongside cyber fraudsters in a case involving fraudulent investment applications.
Meta informed the government on July 31 that it was cooperating with authorities to resolve the issue. The controversy comes months after Zuckerberg apologised for remarks made about India's 2024 general elections, after Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw accused him of spreading misinformation.
