Meta Apologises to India Over Wrongful Restriction of PM Modi's Facebook Post, Faces Safe Harbor Threat

New Delhi: Meta Platforms' Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan has apologised to India's Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw over the wrongful restriction of a Facebook post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month.

The post, a video message addressing students amid protests over examination paper leaks, was briefly restricted on Facebook before being restored. Meta said the removal was the result of an operational error, and Kaplan said he had apologised to the minister on behalf of the company.

A parliamentary panel had earlier demanded an apology from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg within 72 hours, warning that failure to comply could see the company recommended for loss of safe harbor protection in India — a move that would make Meta directly liable for user-generated content on its platforms.

India is Meta's largest market by user count, with WhatsApp alone counting more than 600 million users in the country. The company has separately faced scrutiny over child safety content on Instagram and has been in discussions with regulators on several fronts, including a proposed rollout of WhatsApp usernames.