Meta ready to apologise over brief restriction of PM Modi’s Facebook post: Sources

Meta reportedly told a parliamentary panel it was ready to apologise over the brief restriction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Facebook post. Committee members questioned algorithmic bias, demanded accountability and sought legal action over the incident and content moderation practices

New Delhi: Social media giant Meta is learnt to have told a parliamentary committee on Monday that it is ready to apologise for the brief restriction on a post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Facebook, as a section of members demanded legal action and sought fixing of accountability.

At a meeting of the department-related standing committee on information technology, members pointed out that while Meta earns huge revenue from India, it does not follow the law of the land, according to sources.

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They also grilled Meta officials who appeared before the panel over the issue of algorithmic bias, saying objectionable content like porn is freely available on the platform while “genuine” content was removed. When Facebook has not removed a lot of other objectionable content, who removed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video from the platform, an MP asked Meta representatives.

“Who bears the ultimate responsibility for this?” the sources quoted the panel member as saying. The questioning came against the backdrop of the government’s summons to Meta’s top executives after Prime Minister Modi’s recent Facebook post addressing India’s youth and promising stringent action against paper leaks was briefly restricted on the platform.

While the US-headquartered social media giant had attributed the incident to a technical glitch and apologised, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had found the explanation “inadequate”. The company had said that the content was removed “in error” and was restored on the platform. In a democracy, “if a video of the prime minister is not safe, then accountability needs to be fixed, another panel member was quoted as saying at the meeting on Monday.

The members also questioned the capabilities of the algorithms designed to check deepfakes of PM Modi. According to the sources, META officials expressed regret over the incident before the panel and stated they were ready to apologise. However, a BJP MP remarked that this isn’t just about offering an apology. Accountability must be fixed and legal action should be taken in this matter, the member asserted.

The committee headed by BJP member Nishikant Dubey held the meeting to discuss the subject ‘Social and Digital platforms and their regulation’, days after the government summoned Meta’s global team for briefly restricting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Facebook post.

Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, Secretary in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) S Krishnan and representatives of social and digital media platforms — Snapchat, Google, X (formerly Twitter), Meta (Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram) and YouTube — appeared before the committee.