Meta straps on a ‘Kick Me’ sign by mistakenly taking down video by India’s prime minister

Meta mistakenly removed a video posted by India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, which led to days of criticism and regulatory trouble. The video announced a task force to reform university exam procedures, a factor in recent youth protests due to a canceled test with leaked questions. Modi posted his first-ever selfie-style Instagram reel and followed it with others, including the removed video.

Meta later apologized, restored the video, and was asked by India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to explain the incident. The ministry requested a high-level meeting and new moderation protocols for accounts run by prominent people. India has a complicated relationship with Big Tech, supporting development but also expressing concerns over monopolistic tendencies and content censorship.

Meanwhile, Chinese AI startup DeepSeek released a beta API for its new model, deepseek-v4-flash, with a pricing policy that doubles during certain hours. Australia proposed a new tax on Big Tech companies unless they pay local media, changing from a 2.25 percent tax to a 2.5 percent levy on advertising revenue. Australia also sued Telegram for failing to remove violent and terrorism-related content.

Japanese memory company Kioxia saw a 451 percent year-over-year revenue growth and a $5.3 billion profit, expecting even better results due to growing demand for NAND storage. Japanese space startup iSpace plans to launch its next moon mission using a Japanese rocket, the H3, after two failed missions with SpaceX's Falcon 9.