Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologises over PM Modi video row, admits paid content boosting

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly apologized to the Modi government over issues relating to child sexual abuse material or CSAM, deepfake content and operational lapses on the company's platforms, as the social media giant faces increased scrutiny over its compliance with Indian laws. As per reports, Meta also acknowledged that it received substantial payments to boost certain types of content to specific audiences. The reports further said the company was informed that its eligibility for safe harbor protection under the Information Technology Act could come under scrutiny because its platforms actively select and distribute content to users rather than merely hosting third-party content. Under Section 79 of the IT Act, safe harbour protection is subject to conditions governing how an intermediary handles and distributes content. India is META's largest market by users, with hundreds of millions of people using Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The discussions took place as senior META executives met officials of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, or METI, to discuss compliance with Indian laws, content moderation, child sexual abuse material, and safeguards against AI-generated content. METI Secretary S Krishnan said META executives, including the company's Head of Global Affairs Joel Kaplan, met government officials on Wednesday and are scheduled to hold another round of discussions on Thursday. Krishnan said the government wants META to explain the measures it has taken to tackle CSAM on its platforms and how effectively it is monitoring AI-generated and synthetically created content. He said the centre wanted to ensure compliance with Indian laws and understand the company's safeguards in these areas. The government also raised concerns over the temporary removal of content posted by verified accounts particularly after a video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefly removed from Facebook and Instagram. In the video, the Prime Minister addressed students and Gen Z on examination controversies and action against paper leaks. The content remained unavailable for around five to six hours before being restored. During the meeting, META's Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan said he had apologised to Union Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnav on behalf of the company for restricting the Prime Minister's post. META had earlier attributed the removal to a technical glitch and said the content had been taken down in error before being restored. However, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology reportedly found the explanation inadequate. The issue also came under the scrutiny of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who heads the committee, said the panel held META responsible for removing the Prime Minister's video. He argued that deleting the content was the act of a publisher rather than that of an intermediary and said Zuckerberg would have to apologise within three days. The meeting that our committee held the day before yesterday, our committee wrote a letter to the Ministry of IT and Ministry of Home Affairs that the video of the Prime Minister They deleted it. It is not the job of the intermediary, it is the job of the publisher. And as such, Zuckerberg will have to apologize within three days. If he does not apologize, then all the social media platforms that we have given safe harbour to him, for which he takes wrong advantage, we will end the safe harbour. Now all the abuses, abuses, beatings, back-stabbing, all these things come on social media platforms. All the parties that are against him will file an FIR against the Meta Chief. The entire country will be in a state of FIR. Krishnan further said that content takedowns involving verified accounts of prominent public figures should be backed by stronger safeguards to prevent similar incidents in the future. While parliamentary standing committees can examine government policies and summon company executives for questioning, they do not have the authority to impose penalties or revoke legal protections. Any action against an online platform would have to be taken by the government or the courts under the existing legal framework.