Mark Zuckerberg Apologises to the Indian Government

Technology giant Meta came under intense criticism in India after Facebook briefly removed a video posted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week.

The incident sparked political backlash, with a parliamentary panel demanding a personal apology from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and warning of possible action if the company failed to respond in three days.

Now, Zuckerberg has issued an apology to the Indian government through his representatives. Reports suggest that Zuckerberg acknowledged that the company made errors in handling the content and said Meta regrets the incident.

He also apologised over the presence of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), deepfake content, and shortcomings in the way the company’s platforms have been operated.

According to sources, government officials made it clear to Meta that the company cannot claim protection as a mere intermediary, as it actively decides how content is distributed to users. They also stated that the safe harbour protections available under the Information Technology (IT) Act do not apply to Meta in this context.

It is a known fact Narendra Modi released a video through his social media platforms over the recent protests. Facebook has immediately removed the video and restored it after a while. This has triggered huge criticism from political supporters and government as well.