Meta apologizes to India after briefly restricting Indian PM Modi’s social media post

NEW DELHI, Aug 5: Meta has apologised to India’s Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw after a video posted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefly restricted on Facebook and Instagram.

Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan said the company apologised for the error, calling the restriction a mistake. Kaplan, along with other senior Meta executives, met IT Secretary S. Krishnan and officials from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) for discussions lasting around 45 minutes.

The incident involved a vertical video posted by Prime Minister Modi on July 23, during a period of protests led by the online group Cockroach Janta Party (CJP). The video was temporarily removed from Meta-owned platforms before being restored. Meta said the removal happened due to a technical error.

However, MeitY reportedly found Meta’s explanation insufficient, while BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who chairs the parliamentary committee on communications and information technology, criticised the company and said deleting the Prime Minister’s video went beyond the role of a platform intermediary.

India is Meta’s largest market by users, with hundreds of millions of people using Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The parliamentary committee can question company officials but does not have the authority to impose penalties or take direct legal action. Any action against online platforms would have to be taken by the government or courts under existing laws.