PANAJI: The Parliamentary Committee on Communications and Information Technology has given Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg a three-day ultimatum to apologise for the brief removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's July 23 video from Facebook, warning that failure to do so could lead to action against the company, including a review of its safe harbour protection.
The committee, chaired by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, described the temporary removal of the Prime Minister's video as an "attack on democracy", stating that the content involved the elected representative of 1.4 billion Indians.
"If Facebook does not take action against those responsible in this matter, the Safe Harbour Clause will be removed. Mark Zuckerberg will have to apologise. Otherwise, a case may be filed," the committee said.
It further warned that the removal of safe harbour protection could pave the way for FIRs to be filed directly against social media platform officials, subject to approval by the Central Government.
Dubey alleged that Meta has been misusing the legal protections granted to intermediaries.
"We have written to the Ministry of Electronics and 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 that they have been misusing," Dubey said.
He added that if those affected by similar content moderation decisions begin filing FIRs against Meta, the company could face legal action across the country.
The controversy stems from Prime Minister Modi's July 23 selfie video, which was first posted on Instagram and later on Facebook. In the video, his first direct selfie-style address, the Prime Minister spoke to Gen Z and promised stringent action against paper leaks amid student protests led by the satirical Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).
The Facebook version of the video was briefly restricted before being restored following widespread backlash.
Earlier this week, Meta officials appeared before the Parliamentary Committee, where they faced questions over the incident. The company apologised for what it described as a "technical glitch" that led to the temporary removal of the video.
However, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology rejected Meta's explanation as "not reasonable", stating that if the incident was caused by a technical error, the company should strengthen its systems to prevent similar lapses in the future.
