Parliamentary IT committee to Meta: Apologise for PM video removal or lose safe harbour
A parliamentary committee has issued a three-day ultimatum to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to apologize for the removal of a video featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The committee threatened to revoke the company's legal safe harbour protections if the demand is not met.
Why it matters
This represents a significant escalation in the Indian government's regulatory pressure on global tech giants regarding content moderation and legal accountability.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been given a three-day ultimatum by a parliamentary standing committee on Wednesday (August 5, 2026) to issue an apology for Facebook taking down Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video, with the panel warning that the company’s legal immunity could be revoked if he fails to comply.
According to a letter from the Lok Sabha Secretariat, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology — headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Nishikant Dubey — has sought the withdrawal of Instagram’s safe harbour following the company’s erroneous blocking of PM Modi’s July 23 video message amid youth protests at Jantar Mantar and elsewhere in the country.
The removal has drawn the government’s ire , with senior officials demanding an exhaustive explanation from Meta and an apology from its founder Mark Zuckerberg.
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