Our Bureau
New Delhi
The Centre on Tuesday summoned Meta’s global head of public policy after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Facebook post addressing the nation’s youth was briefly removed from the platform, with the government rejecting the company’s explanation that the incident occurred due to an “error.” Officials said the matter is “far from settled” and that further discussions with the social media giant are expected.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) sought an explanation from Meta following the temporary removal of the Prime Minister’s video, which was posted on July 23. The video featured Modi’s message to young people, including assurances that the government would introduce stricter measures to tackle examination paper leaks.
Meta acknowledged that the content had been removed inadvertently and restored it shortly afterward. In a statement, the company said the post had been “removed in error” and had since been reinstated on Facebook. According to sources, Meta informed the government that an issue with its automated content moderation systems may have led to the temporary takedown.
However, government sources said the explanation was “not reasonable” and maintained that a technical glitch alone could not adequately account for the removal of a post from the Prime Minister’s official account. Officials indicated that the government expects Meta to strengthen its automated moderation tools and ensure similar incidents do not recur.
The episode has reignited debate over the accountability of global technology platforms and the reliability of automated content moderation systems, particularly when they affect communications from constitutional authorities. While the post has been restored, the government has signalled that it will continue its engagement with Meta before considering the matter resolved.