Meta apologises to India for restricting PM Modi’s post

NEW DELHI — Meta Platforms’ Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan on Wednesday apologised to India’s information technology minister for briefly restricting a post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month, calling it an operational error.

“I apologised to the minister on behalf of Meta for the error restricting PM Modi’s post,” Kaplan said in a statement after meeting Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in New Delhi.

A team of Meta executives led by Kaplan, who travelled from the United States for the talks, also met IT Secretary S. Krishnan earlier in the day. The meetings came after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology summoned Meta’s senior leadership over the incident.

On July 23, Modi posted a selfie-style video on Instagram that was later shared on Facebook. In it, he addressed students and young people amid nationwide protests over examination paper leaks, promising stringent action and noting that legislation would be introduced to tackle the issue. The Facebook version of the post was temporarily restricted for several hours before being restored.

Meta has said the content was removed “in error.” Company officials attributed the restriction to a glitch in its AI-powered automated content filters. Some accounts of the meeting indicated the post was inadvertently flagged as a potential deepfake amid a sudden surge in views. During the restriction, some users reportedly saw a notice stating the media was unavailable in the region due to a legal request.

The Indian government initially found Meta’s explanation inadequate and said the matter was not settled. IT Secretary S. Krishnan had earlier noted that while Meta apologised and admitted a mistake, officials sought more details on why its systems failed and how the company planned to prevent recurrence. Meta has since indicated it has put in place new protocols for accounts of prominent persons, including additional senior-level oversight.

The episode occurred against the backdrop of large youth-led protests organised under the banner of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP). The movement, which began online and spilled onto the streets, focused on repeated examination paper leaks — including those affecting the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) — and related grievances that contributed to the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

A Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology also took up the matter. The panel viewed the temporary removal of Modi’s video “very seriously” and called for an apology from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg within three days, warning that safe-harbour protections under Indian law could be reviewed if the demand was not met.

Government sources said the discussions with Meta executives went beyond the Modi post and covered broader content-moderation concerns, including child sexual abuse material (CSAM), deepfakes, and the paid promotion of certain types of content. Sources indicated that Meta acknowledged lapses and expressed regret. Local media reported that Zuckerberg conveyed apologies on those issues as well. Meta has previously stated it maintains a zero-tolerance policy on CSAM and is strengthening detection systems.

India is Meta’s largest market by number of users, with hundreds of millions active on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The company has faced heightened scrutiny in the country in recent weeks over content related to the prime minister and platform accountability. Police in Hyderabad have also registered a case against Meta’s India head over videos allegedly depicting Modi in an abusive manner.

Kaplan’s apology and the meetings form part of Meta’s efforts to address Indian government concerns in a critical growth market. Further discussions between the company and officials are expected.