Senior global executives of social media giant Meta, which is the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, are set to meet officials of India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) today and tomorrow in the wake of a reel posted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi being taken down temporarily due to what the company described as a 'technical glitch'.
"Meta executives are expected to meet govt representatives on 5th and 6th August. Issues related to India's law, compliance issues, synthetically generated information, safeguards on content take downs related to prominent personalities are expected to be taken up," MeitY Secretary S Krishnan said.
Access to the video posted by the prime minister was briefly restricted on Facebook in the early hours of 28 July. The video was also unavailable for a brief period, even after being restored. Meta attributed it to a technical error, saying in a statement, "The content was removed in error and has since been restored."
People also ask
AI powered insights from this story
The removal was attributed to a technical glitch in Meta's AI-powered automated content filtering system, which mistakenly flagged the video.
The committee sought an apology due to concerns about Meta's removal of PM Modi's content, threatening loss of legal immunity if an apology was not issued.
Meta expressed regret for the incident, acknowledging it was a mistake, and indicated that new protocols for handling content from prominent accounts would be implemented.
If Meta fails to comply with the Indian government's demands, including issuing an apology, it risks losing safe harbour protection under Section 79 of the IT Act.
Yes, ensuring stricter safeguards for high-profile accounts could help prevent issues like content removal errors and maintain compliance with legal standards.
The company had also written to the Indian government, expressing regret for the incident.
"Meta has written to the government expressing regret over the incident and that it had happened. They have also given us the reasons, their understanding of the reason why it happened, they have also indicated that as of 28th of July, they have established new protocols relating to accounts of prominent persons to avoid such a situation from recurring," ANI quoted Krishnan.
Nishikant Dubey, the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, on Monday called for an apology from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg over the temporary removal of Modi's video, saying that the company would lose the safe harbour protection granted to it under Section 79 of the Information Technology (IT) Act.
"Meta India removed the Prime Minister's content. This is not the first time Meta India has done this. If you recall, Zuckerberg himself made a statement in January regarding the 2024 elections and later apologized. This shows that his intention is to destabilize the country. When a video of the Prime Minister of India can be removed, and they themselves admitted that the content was missing for five hours, from 12:30 am to 5:00 am, this is a very serious matter," ANI quoted Dubey.
Nishikant Dubey, the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, on Monday called for an apology from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg over the temporary removal of Modi's video, saying that the company would lose the safe harbour protection granted to it under Section 79 of the Information Technology (IT) Act.
"Meta India removed the Prime Minister's content. This is not the first time Meta India has done this. If you recall, Zuckerberg himself made a statement in January regarding the 2024 elections and later apologized. This shows that his intention is to destabilize the country. When a video of the Prime Minister of India can be removed, and they themselves admitted that the content was missing for five hours, from 12:30 am to 5:00 am, this is a very serious matter," ANI quoted Dubey.
"Our committee has said two things and has clearly stated that the apology should come from Zuckerberg. If Zuckerberg does not give it, then the safe harbour protection under Section 79 should be withdrawn from him," he added.
(With agency inputs)
