Meta CEO Zuckerberg has apologized in connection with the temporary removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video from Facebook’s social media page.
Following students’ participation in protests over the NEET exam issue, Prime Minister Modi had posted a video on Facebook’s social media page on the 23rd of last month, appealing to them. Facebook initially removed that video, but after 5 hours it was posted again.
In this regard, the Central Government issued a summons to Meta, the parent company of Facebook. Accepting the summons, a team of Meta officials appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee last Monday. At that time, the Parliamentary Standing Committee insisted that Zuckerberg should personally apologize.
In this situation, it had said that Zuckerberg must apologize within 3 days; otherwise, the special privilege granted under Section 79(3) of the Information Technology Act, which states that the social media platform is not responsible for posts published by third parties, would be withdrawn. In this regard, the Parliamentary Standing Committee had recommended this in a letter sent by the Lok Sabha Secretariat Director to the Union Secretary for Electronics and Information Technology.
Regarding this, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology Chairman Nishikant Dubey said in an interview with reporters at the Parliament complex, “Zuckerberg must apologize within 3 days. If he does not apologize, the privilege (exemption from liability) granted under Section 79(3) of the Information Technology Act will be withdrawn, and a case will be filed against the Meta chief for obscene, violent, and objectionable posts that have appeared on social media. Numerous cases will be filed against him across the country. After that, they will have to remain in jail,” he said.
In this situation, central government sources said that Zuckerberg had apologized in the matter of Prime Minister Modi’s video being temporarily removed. Regarding this, those sources said, “In Delhi, Meta’s international team, led by its head of global affairs, Joel Kaplan, met Union Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. At that time, the team acknowledged that there were some shortcomings in the operations of companies owned by Meta. Similarly, the team also met and spoke with Information Technology Secretary S. Krishnan. During that meeting, the Meta team expressed apology and regret over the removal of Modi’s video. Likewise, the central government sources said that the team also admitted that they were being paid large sums of money to promote certain posts.”
At that time, the Central Government pointed out to the Meta group that videos of minors being sexually abused and deepfake fake videos were widespread on Meta’s social media platforms. In response, the Meta group said it had failed to control such posts. It also admitted that a large number of illegal posts were being promoted by its company for specific audiences and were being advertised for payment. Central government sources said the Meta group would be summoned again to appear in person.
