Meta-Centre Row Live Updates: The Parliamentary Committee of Communications and Information Technology has issued a three-day ultimatum to Mark Zuckerberg to apologise for the brief removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's July 23 video and take action against those responsible for it.
The panel, led by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, said the deletion of PM Modi's video - who is the representative of 1.4 billion Indians - is an "attack on democracy".
"If Facebook does not take action against those responsible in this matter, the Safe Harbour Clause will be removed. Mark Zuckerberg will have to apologise. Otherwise, a case may be filed," it said.
The removal of the safe harbour clause gives the green light to file FIRs directly against social media platform officials. The central government will provide the green light, the committee warned.
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Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg has apologised for child sexual abuse material, deepfake content and operational errors on its platforms, sources told NDTV on Wednesday after the company's global team met IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, following the government's recent summons over the removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's post on Facebook.
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Meta has also been under regulatory scrutiny over the issue of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) in paid advertisements on Instagram, and the government, last month, slapped a notice on Meta over the issue. The Parliamentary panel today warned all social media platforms to comply with the CSAM rules or face a case.
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PM Modi's post, which was first shared on Instagram and later on Facebook, marked his first direct selfie video that contained a message to Gen Z promising stringent measures against paper leaks amid the student protest spearheaded by the satirical Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) at the time. The Facebook version of the post was briefly restricted by Meta.
Meta-Centre Row Live Updates: Mark Zuckerberg Must Apologize, Says Nishikant Dubey
Nishikant Dubey said Meta has been "misusing" the "privilege" of safe harbour protection.
"We wrote to the Ministry of IT and the Ministry of Home Affairs stating that deleting the Prime Minister's video was not the responsibility of an intermediary but that of a publisher. Therefore, Mark Zuckerberg must apologize within three days. If he fails to do so, we will revoke the "safe harbour" protection currently provided to social media platforms, a privilege that they have been misusing," he said.
