India gives Zuckerberg three-day ultimatum to apologize for Modi video removal

India's parliamentary standing committee on information technology has given Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg a three-day deadline to personally apologize for the removal of a video featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Instagram.

The Indian Lok Sabha Secretariat stated that if Zuckerberg does not issue an unconditional apology within the specified period, Meta's platforms could lose their legal protections under the Information Technology Act and may face legal action as publishers.

In a letter addressed to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the parliamentary committee described the deletion of the prime minister's video—which addressed students and youth on exam paper leaks and the government's strict response—for a period of five to six hours as a matter of grave concern, demanding a personal apology from Zuckerberg.

The committee also called for action against platforms hosting content related to child sexual abuse or material offensive to women.

This comes despite Meta's head of global affairs, Joel Kaplan, having already apologized on behalf of the company for the temporary removal of the video posted by Prime Minister Modi on Instagram, during a meeting chaired by India's Minister of Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw.

Meta clarified that the video was removed due to an unintentional error, adding that it is working to strengthen its internal review and oversight processes to prevent similar incidents in the future.

"I have apologized to the minister on behalf of Meta for the error that led to the restriction of Prime Minister Modi's post," Kaplan said in a statement.