New Delhi : BJP MP and Chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, Dr Nishikant Dubey, said the reported apology by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was a victory for India’s laws, Constitution and Parliament.
Speaking to the media, Dr Dubey said the development demonstrated the strength of India’s legal framework and asserted that any company wishing to operate in the country must comply with Indian laws.
His remarks came after a Meta global delegation met senior officials of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in New Delhi on August 5 over the issue relating to the removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video message to students from Facebook. The delegation is also scheduled to meet the Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology.
According to Government of India sources, the Meta delegation conveyed an apology from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg over issues related to Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) content, the spread of deepfake content, and what were described as operational errors on the platform.
Government sources further stated that Indian officials informed the delegation that Meta could not claim protection solely as an intermediary because the platform exercises discretion over which content is shown to users. On that basis, officials conveyed that the safe harbour protections under the Information Technology Act would not apply in such circumstances.
The same government sources also claimed that Meta representatives acknowledged that significant amounts had been spent on promoting certain categories of content and expressed regret over what they described as operational mistakes.
Meta has not issued any official statement confirming the details of the meeting or the reported apology.