4 min readUpdated: Aug 5, 2026 02:06 PM IST
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology (IT) has given Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg a three-day ultimatum to apologise for the removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video addressing students and Gen Z about exam-related controversies. The Lok Sabha secretariat has told the government that if Zuckerberg does not apologise, the protection to Meta platforms under the IT Act may be withdrawn and he may face action. This comes on a day Meta officials are meeting top government officials on the removal of the Prime Minister’s post.
The Indian Express has accessed a letter from A Jyothirmayi, director of the Lok Sabha, to S Krishnan, secretary of the Ministry of Electronics & IT. The letter refers to a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on August 3 with representatives of the ministries of Home Affairs, Electronics and Information Technology, and social media platforms, including Meta, which runs Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram.
“The removal of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s video addressing students and Gen Z regarding examination controversies and strict actions against paper leaks from Facebook for 5-6 hours (was) viewed very seriously by the Committee. During the deliberations, the Committee demanded an apology from Mr Mark Zuckerberg, Meta Chief, on this issue,” it said.
“If he fails to tender an unqualified apology within 3 days of receipt of this letter, the protection/immunity given under Section 79(3) of IT Act may be withdrawn and action taken against him as a Publisher,” the letter added. Section 79(3) of the Act lists exceptions in which online platforms lose legal immunity for third-party content.
The committee has also demanded action against platforms that carry material linked to child sexual abuse and demeaning women.
‘Mindset to destabilise country’
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey leads the House panel on IT. Earlier, the Godda MP had said that the mindset behind the removal of the PM’s video was “to destabilise the country”. “When video of the Prime Minister of India can be removed, and they themselves accepted that it was unavailable for five hours between 12:30 am and 5 am… this is a very serious thing and our committee has said two things clearly — that this apology should come from Zuckerberg himself.”
Dubey also flagged the algorithm of social media platforms. “If you look at the viewership of the BJP, Congress, Samajwadi Party, Aam Aadmi Party in the algorithm, it is just 25 million. And, for those which are neither registered parties nor NGOs, are on the streets because they are misled… it is 27 million,” he told reporters. “An anti-reservation forum, which was created five to six days ago, is 7 million. The reason for this is that it is their policy to give traction to new entities rather than older ones,” he said.
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Members of the Opposition on the IT panel, who attended the meeting on Monday, were of the view that dissent cannot be treated as a crime and satire cannot be considered sedition.
Meta representatives had attributed the removal of the PM’s video to a glitch in its automated content filters. According to a Meta spokesperson, the content was removed “in error” and has since been restored on the platform. The social media giant had said posts by the Prime Minister and other prominent accounts will now have additional oversight on the platform. IT Ministry sources had then said Meta’s explanation was “not reasonable”.