Parliamentary panel warns Meta of losing safe harbour protection if Zuckerberg does not apologise

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, Nishikant Dubey, on Wednesday said the panel has asked Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to apologise within three days over the temporary removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Facebook video, warning that failure to do so could lead to a recommendation to withdraw the company's safe harbour protection.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines, Dubey said the committee had decided at its meeting "the day before yesterday" to write to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

"We stated that the deletion of the Prime Minister's video was not the role of an intermediary... it was the role of a publisher. Accordingly, Zuckerberg has been asked to issue an apology within three days. If he fails to apologise, we will recommend withdrawing the safe harbour protection currently available to social media platforms, which, in our view, they have been misusing," Dubey said.

He added that if the protection is withdrawn, complaints related to abusive content, threats, violence or other unlawful material posted on Meta's platforms could result in FIRs being filed directly against the company chief.

"There would be a flood of FIRs across the country, and those responsible could face legal action," Dubey said.

Committee letter seeks action on other platforms

According to a PTI report, the parliamentary panel has also formally conveyed its position in a letter to the secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, stating that the temporary removal of Prime Minister Modi's Facebook video addressing students and Gen Z on examination controversies and paper leaks was viewed "very seriously" by the committee.

The letter, signed by A. Jyothirmayi, director in the Lok Sabha Secretariat, said the committee had demanded an apology from Zuckerberg and warned that if he failed to tender an unconditional apology within three days of receiving the letter, the protection available under Section 79(3) of the Information Technology Act could be withdrawn and action initiated against him "as a Publisher", PTI reported.

PTI further reported that the committee also sought stricter action against intermediary platforms hosting child sexual abuse material (CSAM), saying platforms that fail to remove such content should face action under Section 79(3) of the IT Act.

The letter also referred to the Hyderabad Cyber Police case involving alleged fraudulent investment apps, with the committee urging the government to consider similar action against Google India, according to PTI.

The developments follow the committee's meeting on Monday with officials from the Ministries of Home Affairs and Electronics and Information Technology, along with representatives from Meta, Google, YouTube, X and Snapchat, to discuss the regulation of social and digital platforms.

The controversy stems from the temporary removal of Prime Minister Modi's official Facebook video earlier this week. Meta attributed the incident to a technical error, apologised for the removal and restored the content. MeitY, however, said the explanation provided by the company was "inadequate".