India Summons Meta Executives Over Brief Block of PM Modi’s Video on Facebook
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has summoned Meta’s global head of public policy after a video posted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefly withheld on Facebook in India, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The video, uploaded by Modi on Thursday evening during ongoing student protests, featured the Prime Minister announcing that the Union Cabinet would work on a stringent new law to impose stricter penalties for those involved in paper leaks. Meta later stated that the video was removed in error and has since been restored. Queries sent to the IT Ministry remained unanswered at the time of publication.
This incident occurs against the backdrop of recent student protests that concluded last week following the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as Education Minister. During the protests, the government had ordered the censorship of various content from social media platforms, including videos that contained derogatory language directed at senior administration officials.
In the video, Modi said, “Friends, I am well aware that the issue of paper leaks is not a small matter. It causes immense distress to lakhs of students and their parents. Consequently, numerous measures have been taken over the past two-and-a-half months following these incidents, and the culprits have been apprehended and are currently in jail.” He further added that a draft proposal including provisions for fast-track courts and stricter penalties would be discussed in the Cabinet and aimed to be passed in Parliament in the coming session.
The video, shot in a vertical format, was widely seen as an effort by the Prime Minister to engage with young audiences on platforms like Instagram, where short vertical videos are highly popular.
Meta, which owns Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook, has faced increased scrutiny from the Indian government in recent weeks. The student protests were largely documented and discussed on Instagram, drawing government attention. Prior to this, Instagram had been criticised over the presence of child sexual abuse material, and WhatsApp faced questions about its upcoming username feature.
Earlier this month, the government asked WhatsApp to delay the rollout of its username feature, citing concerns over impersonation and fraud. In a notice, the IT Ministry gave WhatsApp three days to provide a detailed explanation, warning that the feature could increase online fraud, phishing, digital arrest scams, and impersonation of individuals, public authorities, and institutions.
