Meta Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has apologized to an Indian parliamentary committee over the erroneous removal of a video featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while also expressing regret over the company’s shortcomings in combating child sexual abuse material and addressing challenges posed by deepfake technology, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The development follows a demand by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, which had sought an explanation from Zuckerberg after Modi’s video was temporarily removed from Meta-owned platforms. The committee had reportedly given the Meta chief three days to clarify the incident and outline action against those responsible.
Prime Minister Modi originally posted the video on Instagram on July 23, and it was later shared on Facebook. The address marked his first public remarks on the nationwide student protests that erupted over allegations of examination paper leaks, a controversy that eventually led to the resignation of India’s Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
However, the video was removed from both Facebook and Instagram shortly after publication before being restored later.
Meta said the removal resulted from a technical error, insisting that the content had been taken down inadvertently rather than through a deliberate moderation decision.
Despite the explanation, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) reportedly dismissed Meta’s response as inadequate, arguing that such an error reflected serious shortcomings in the company’s internal systems.
According to the ministry, a global technology company of Meta’s scale is expected to maintain stronger technical safeguards and more robust internal oversight to prevent the mistaken removal of content, particularly material published by high-profile public officials.
The source also told NDTV that Zuckerberg acknowledged broader concerns surrounding Meta’s content moderation practices, including the platform’s failure to adequately curb child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and ongoing challenges in detecting and managing AI-generated deepfake content.
The parliamentary scrutiny comes as governments worldwide intensify pressure on major social media companies to improve transparency, strengthen content moderation systems and ensure greater accountability in the use of artificial intelligence.
India remains one of Meta’s largest global markets, with hundreds of millions of users regularly accessing Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, making regulatory oversight of the company’s operations increasingly significant.
Source: NDTV