Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg must apologise within three days for Facebook temporarily removing a video posted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ANI quoted the head of the parliamentary panel on information technology Nishikant Dubey as saying on Wednesday.

Meta is the parent organisation of social media platform Facebook.

“If he fails to do so, we will revoke the ‘safe harbour’ protection currently provided to his social media platforms, a privilege that they have been misusing,” the news agency quoted Dubey as saying.

He told reporters that the parliamentary standing committee had told the Union ministries of home affairs and information technology that removing Modi’s video “was not the responsibility of an intermediary but that of a publisher”.

“Therefore, Zuckerberg must apologise within three days,” Dubey added.

Considering the allegedly abusive language, and violent and objectionable content that is shared on the platforms, “a flood” of first information reports will get filed against the Meta chief in the country, he said.

The safe harbour provision under the Information Technology Act gives online intermediaries such as social media firms immunity from liability for content posted by a third party on their platforms, as long as they comply with the government’s directions. Removing the status would mean that the platforms would become liable for the content posted on them.

Modi’s video briefly removed

On July 23, the prime minister posted a late-night video on social media assuring strict action on cases of paper leaks in competitive examinations, amid nationwide youth protests over alleged irregularities in the process. On July 28, the video was briefly unavailable in India. Users saw a notice that access had been withheld following a legal request. It was restored later.

Dubey alleged that the video was inaccessible for five hours.

On July 28, the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology summoned Meta’s global head of public policy in connection with the matter. Secretary S Krishnan had told ANI at the time the firm contended that it happened because of a technical error, but said that the reasoning was not “acceptable in its entirety”.

Dubey has argued that temporarily removing Modi’s video reflected conduct by the platform beyond that of a neutral intermediary, the Hindustan Times reported.

The BJP MP’s comments came ahead of a meeting between a Meta team led by its Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan and information technology ministry officials on Wednesday.

The ministry said that the discussions will also cover the technology firm’s compliance with Indian laws, child sexual abuse material on its platforms, content generated using artificial intelligence and safeguards for verified accounts.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.

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