Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], August 6 (ANI): Cyber expert Prashant Mali on Wednesday said the government should deal with the temporary removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video from Meta-owned Facebook strictly within the framework of law and not emotion, asserting that if the platform violated Indian laws, authorities were well within their rights to seek an explanation and initiate legal proceedings.
Speaking to ANI, Mali said the removal of the Prime Minister’s official video raised concerns beyond an individual and touched upon India’s democratic institutions.
“If a social media platform has removed the Prime Minister of India’s official video without valid justification, then this is not merely about one individual. It raises serious questions about accountability towards India’s democratic institutions. However, I feel the government should deal with this issue strictly within the framework of law and not emotion,” he said.
He added that if Meta had violated provisions of the Information Technology Act, the Intermediary Rules or any other applicable law, the government could seek an explanation and proceed legally if necessary.
“Meta also must demonstrate transparency by publicly explaining why the video was taken down and whether this was the result of a human or technical error. An apology and a clear commitment to prevent such incidents in the future would be the responsible course of action,” Mali said.
He further stressed that India, being one of Meta’s largest markets, deserved respect for its laws, democratic institutions and digital sovereignty.
Meanwhile, cyber expert Nikhil Mahadeshwar said the temporary removal of the Prime Minister’s video could have been the result of an automated review process rather than deliberate human intervention.
“Meta has its own SOPs for content review policies. The content review policies basically are not humanly reviewed for every video, every audio, or every text content. There is a lot of role for AI, automation, and machine learning in it. When they are currently commenting, it is an operational error; the operational error may be due to AI review or maybe any kind of machine learning review as well,” Mahadeshwar told ANI.
He noted that artificial intelligence systems can generate “false-positive” outcomes, adding that the restoration of the content suggested the removal may have been an unintended operational error.
The remarks came after sources said Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg conveyed an apology to the Government of India over issues relating to Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), deepfake content and operational errors on the platform. A high-level Meta delegation led by Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan met Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Secretary S. Krishnan on Wednesday and explained the reasons behind the erroneous takedown of Prime Minister Modi’s video.
According to sources, the government conveyed to Meta that the company was not covered under the definition of an “intermediary” where it selects who receives content, and therefore safe harbour protection under the Information Technology Act would not apply.
The issue has also drawn strong political attention. BJP MP and Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications Chairman Nishikant Dubey demanded a personal apology from Zuckerberg, warning that failure to do so could lead to the withdrawal of safe harbour protection under Section 79 of the IT Act.
Meta had earlier said the Prime Minister’s Facebook video, uploaded on July 23 on action against examination paper leaks, was removed due to a technical error and was subsequently restored. (ANI)
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