(Adnkronos) – An Indian parliamentary committee today asked Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO, to apologize for temporarily removing a video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India is the largest market for the social media giant in terms of users, with hundreds of millions of people using Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
The Prime Minister’s video from July 23, addressing Indian youth mobilized to protest against exam leaks, was briefly removed from Facebook and Instagram, Meta’s platforms, before being restored.
The American tech giant claimed the temporary removal was due to a technical error. The parliamentary committee for Communications and Information Technology holds Meta responsible and Mark Zuckerberg “will have to apologize within three days,” said Nishikant Dubey, chairman of the committee.
“The removal of the Prime Minister’s video was not the work of a mere intermediary, but of a publisher,” said Dubey, a Member of Parliament for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (Bjp).
Parliamentary committees examine government policies and can summon officials and business leaders to answer their questions. However, they cannot impose sanctions, revoke legal protections, or order legal proceedings. Any action against an online platform must be taken by the government or courts under existing legislation.
Dubey indicated that the committee has written to the Ministries of Home Affairs and Technology requesting intervention. “If he does not apologize, all legal protections granted to his social media platforms should be revoked,” the committee chairman threatened during a press conference.
Indian media reported today that Meta executives were summoned to explain the temporary removal of the video. Contacted by AFP, the American tech giant did not provide an immediate response.
On July 23, at the height of protests by Indian youth, led by the online movement “Cockroach People’s Party” (Cjp), Prime Minister Modi published a vertically shot video. Initially focused on allegations of university exam fraud, the movement gradually expanded to express the discontent of young people facing difficulties in accessing employment in an otherwise rapidly growing country, as well as against what they perceived as Modi’s authoritarian methods.
