India Threatens Meta Safe Harbor Over PM Modi Video Removal

The Indian government and a parliamentary panel have intensified regulatory pressure on Meta Platforms Inc. following the temporary removal of a Facebook Reel posted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 23. The video, which addressed student protests over NEET-UG examination leaks, was briefly unavailable in late July. While Meta attributed the incident to an algorithmic error and a technical glitch, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and a parliamentary committee rejected these explanations as inadequate.

Nishikant Dubey, chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, issued a three-day ultimatum for CEO Mark Zuckerberg to personally apologize. Dubey warned that failure to do so could result in the withdrawal of Meta's safe harbor protection under Section 79 of the IT Act, arguing the company acted as a publisher rather than a neutral intermediary by using algorithms to curate content. On August 5, Meta's Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan met with IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and IT Secretary S. Krishnan in New Delhi to apologize for the error.

The dispute expanded into broader concerns over child safety and legal compliance. Meta admitted to promoting illegal content, including child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and deepfakes, through paid advertisements. In response, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and the National Human Rights Commission launched inquiries into these lapses. CEO Mark Zuckerberg subsequently issued apologies to the government for these operational failures. Amidst the tension, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal alleged on August 6 that Meta had restricted his account, though reports later indicated his profile remained accessible.