The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has summoned Meta’s global head of public policy after the company briefly removed a Facebook post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed to the nation’s youth. The government is treating the incident as a serious compliance issue under the Information Technology (IT) Rules governing the handling of government and user content on social media platforms.
According to reports, the summons has been issued to Meta’s global public policy chief, while the company’s Instagram head is also under the ministry’s scrutiny over the same incident.
The controversy stems from a video posted by the Prime Minister on July 23 during student protests at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. In the video, Modi assured strict action against paper leaks and addressed students preparing for competitive examinations. The post was removed from Facebook shortly after it was uploaded, prompting the ministry to seek an explanation from the social media giant.
Meta later restored the Prime Minister’s post, admitting it had been taken down by mistake. However, the company’s brief statement offered no details on what caused the moderation error or how a post from the country’s top official was inadvertently flagged.
Under the IT Rules, significant social media intermediaries are required to exercise due diligence, maintain effective grievance redressal mechanisms, and refrain from arbitrarily removing lawful content. The unexplained removal of a post from the country’s highest elected office, even if later attributed to an error, is being viewed by the government as a potential compliance lapse warranting an explanation from Meta’s global leadership rather than its India-based officials.
The decision to summon the company’s global public policy chief indicates that the government is seeking accountability at the level where platform-wide moderation and policy decisions are made. It remains to be seen whether the takedown was merely a technical or moderation error, as Meta claims, or whether the ministry considers the incident to involve broader compliance concerns.
The episode has renewed scrutiny over the accountability of large social media platforms under India’s IT Rules and the manner in which they moderate content posted by government authorities. The ministry has not yet indicated whether it will formally record the executives’ statements or seek only a written explanation.
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