Meta has apologized to the Indian government after Facebook briefly restricted a post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This incident has intensified scrutiny of the social media giant’s content moderation practices in one of its largest markets.
Joel Kaplan, Meta’s chief global affairs officer, said he apologized to Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw during a meeting on Wednesday, describing the restriction as an operational error.
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“I apologised to the minister on behalf of Meta for the error restricting PM Modi’s post,” Kaplan said in a statement. The apology comes days after the Indian government summoned Meta executives to explain why Facebook had temporarily restricted a post by Modi related to the country’s paper leak controversy. The incident sparked criticism from government officials and members of Parliament, who questioned the platform’s content moderation processes.
The dispute has also taken on legal dimensions. Last week, Hyderabad police registered a case against Meta India head Arun Srinivas over Facebook videos allegedly hastily depicting Modi during protests over leaked national examination papers. The company has not publicly commented on the police case.
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Separately, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized to the Indian government for operational lapses involving child sexual abuse material, deepfake content and other moderation failures on the company’s platforms. Meta said it maintains a zero-tolerance policy toward such content and is strengthening its detection systems.
The controversy comes as India tightens oversight of digital platforms. New regulations require social media companies to remove unlawful content within three hours of receiving a valid legal or government notice, significantly reducing the previous compliance window. The rules also increase potential accountability for online intermediaries and their executives. India is Meta’s largest market by Facebook users, making its relationship with the country strategically important for the company. The latest incident underscores the growing pressure global technology firms face in balancing automated content moderation with compliance in countries that have introduced stricter digital governance rules.