Meta’s Joel Kaplan apologises for PM Modi post error

Meta’s chief global affairs officer Joel Kaplan has apologised on behalf of the company for the erroneous restriction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Facebook post, marking the first public acknowledgement by a senior global executive following the controversy.

“I apologised to the minister on behalf of Meta for error restricting PM Modi’s post,” Kaplan said after the meeting on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, PTI, citing sources, reported that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had apologised over issues including child sexual abuse material (CSAM), deepfakes and errors in operating the platform. However, public confirmation currently available is from Kaplan, while the exact nature of any apology by Zuckerberg remains unclear.

Kaplan was part of Meta’s global delegation that met IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and separately held discussions with IT Secretary S. Krishnan after the government summoned the company’s senior executives over the temporary removal of Modi’s Facebook post.

According to PTI, citing government sources, the Meta team was told that the company was not covered under the definition of an “intermediary” in the present context, arguing that the platform determines who receives content. The sources further claimed that the safe harbour protections available under the Information Technology Act would therefore not apply.

The report also stated that the Meta delegation admitted that “a lot of money was paid for boosting a certain type of content” and expressed regret over mistakes related to the platform.

The meeting also covered concerns around CSAM, deepfakes and safeguards for verified public figures. 

Earlier in the day, speaking to reporters on the sidelines, chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, Nishikant 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.

The committee warned that if an unconditional apology is not received within three days, it could recommend withdrawal of the protection available under Section 79(3) of the Information Technology Act.