Nishikant seeks Zuckerberg’s apology over PM reel removal
The chairperson of the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology on Monday said that Meta’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg should apologise for the temporary removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Facebook Reel or the company could lose the “safe harbour” protection available to intermediaries under Section 79 of the Information Technology (IT) Act
Nishikant Dubey, chairperson of the Parliament's Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, cautioned Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg not to apologize for temporarily removing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Facebook Reel, or the tech giant could forfeit its "safe harbour" exemption under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act.
This warning emerged during a committee meeting attended by senior Meta, Google, YouTube, X, and Snapchat officials, as well as representatives from India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and Ministry of Home Affairs. Dubey emphasized that the committee had delivered two clear messages—either an apology from Zuckerberg or the revocation of Meta's safe harbour protection—after the company briefly took down Modi's video between 12:30 AM and 5 AM on July 23.
The video, uploaded amid nationwide protests over the NEET-UG paper leak, addressed student concerns and announced measures such as fast-track courts and stricter punishments for exam paper leak perpetrators.
Written by urgent.news from Hindustan Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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