'Don't apologise': Mahua Moitra backs Mark Zuckerberg amid PM Modi Facebook post controversy

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra has come out in support of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg after the company indicated it was willing to apologise over the temporary restriction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Facebook post. She urged the tech giant not to give in to pressure, saying it should not be "bullied" into apologising.

In a post on X, Moitra alleged that the government frequently pressures social media platforms to remove content critical of it. Referring to the brief removal of the Prime Minister's post, she dismissed the incident as a mistake that was quickly corrected.

"Hello Mark please do not get bullied & apologise to anyone. Indian govt blackmails & threatens citizens all the time, gets content critical of it removed at will. One video mistakenly removed for few hours didn't make heavens fall!" she wrote.

Meta offers to apologise before Parliamentary panel

Moitra's remarks came after Meta representatives appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology to answer questions over the incident and the company's content moderation practices.

According to a PTI report, Meta told the panel it was prepared to apologise for the temporary restriction on Prime Minister Modi's Facebook post. The company had earlier said the post was removed because of a technical glitch before it was restored.

However, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) reportedly described Meta's explanation as "inadequate".

Lawmakers question Meta's moderation policies

During the meeting, members of the parliamentary panel raised concerns over Meta's content moderation systems. They questioned why the Prime Minister's post was briefly removed while objectionable content, including pornography, continued to remain available on the platform.

The committee also sought details on who was responsible for the removal and whether accountability would be fixed.

According to sources, one BJP MP argued that an apology alone would not be enough and called for legal action against the company. Another member reportedly said, "if a video of the prime minister is not safe, then accountability needs to be fixed."

The panel also discussed concerns over algorithmic bias and Meta's ability to detect deepfakes involving Prime Minister Modi.

The meeting, chaired by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, was attended by Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, MeitY Secretary S Krishnan, and representatives from Meta, Google, X, YouTube and Snapchat to discuss the regulation of social and digital media platforms.