Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communication and Information Technology chief and Lok Sabha MP, Nishikant Dubey on Monday demanded an apology from
Meta CEO and Co-founder Mark Zuckerberg over the brief removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's video from Facebook. Nishikant Dubey's statements have come after earlier today, Meta - the social media giant - apologised before a parliamentary panel over the brief removal of PM Modi's video on Facebook last week. However, according to reports, the panel members were not satisfied with Meta's apology and sought strict legal action against the company. During the panel meeting, Meta explained to the members that they have a mechanism to restrict deep fake content and PM Modi's video may have been removed due to that mechanism and technical glitch. However, the Parliamentary panel asked Meta to take responsibility and action against its officials. Speaking to the media after the meeting, Panel chief Nishikant Dubey said, "Meta India is removing Prime Minister Modi's content. This is not the first time Meta India has done this... Their mindset is to destabilise the country. When the Prime Minister of India's video can be taken down, it becomes a very serious matter. An apology should come from Zuckerberg..." He also mentioned the committee's demand to remove the "safe harbour clause" for Meta and identify whether they (Meta) are an intermediary or publisher for bringing policy change.
Parliamentary Panel Grills Meta Over 'Algorithmic Bias'
Earlier today, at the meeting of the department-related standing committee on information technology, members pointed out that while Meta earns huge revenue from India, it does not follow the law of the land, according to sources.
They grilled Meta officials who appeared before the panel over the issue of algorithmic bias, saying objectionable content like porn is freely available on the platform while "genuine" content was removed.
When Facebook has not removed a lot of other objectionable content, who removed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's video from the platform, an MP asked Meta representatives.
"Who bears the ultimate responsibility for this?" the sources quoted the panel member as saying.Why Meta Was Summoned?
The questioning came against the backdrop of the government's summons to Meta's top executives after Prime Minister
Modi's recent Facebook post addressing India's youth and promising stringent action against paper leaks was briefly restricted on the platform.
While the US-headquartered social media giant had attributed the incident to a technical glitch and apologised, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had found the explanation "inadequate". The company had said that the content was removed "in error" and was restored on the platform.
In a democracy, "if a video of the prime minister is not safe, then accountability needs to be fixed,” another panel member was quoted as saying at the meeting on Monday.
The members also questioned the capabilities of the algorithms designed to check deepfakes of PM Modi.
According to the sources, META officials expressed regret over the incident before the panel and stated they were ready to apologise.
However, a BJP MP remarked that this isn't just about offering an apology. Accountability must be fixed and legal action should be taken in this matter,” the member asserted.
The committee headed by BJP member Nishikant Dubey held a meeting to discuss the subject 'Social and Digital platforms and their regulation', days after the government summoned Meta's global team for briefly restricting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Facebook post.
Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, Secretary in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) S Krishnan, and representatives of social and digital media platforms -- Snapchat, Google, X (formerly Twitter), Meta (Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram), and YouTube -- appeared before the committee.
With inputs from PTI
