Meta Platforms Inc. issued an apology to Indian government officials on Wednesday after briefly restricting a Facebook post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Joel Kaplan, Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer, headed a team of company executives into talks with federal Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in New Delhi. In a statement distributed by Meta, Kaplan said: "I apologised to the minister on behalf of Meta for error restricting PM Modi’s post."
The content at the centre of the dispute was a selfie-style video the prime minister uploaded late last month to both Instagram and Facebook. In the video Modi addressed students about examination paper leaks that sparked protests across the country. Meta temporarily restricted the video on Facebook before restoring it, and has said the removal was a mistake.
The meeting with India’s technology minister occurred as Meta faces growing regulatory attention in the country. Over the past month, authorities have raised concerns about sexual content involving children appearing on Meta platforms, including Instagram. Meta has reiterated that it maintains a zero-tolerance policy toward such content and said it is working to strengthen its safeguards.
India represents Meta’s biggest market by number of users. The company’s messaging service WhatsApp alone counts more than 600 million users in the country.
Context and implications
The apology and the face-to-face meeting underscore the sensitivity of content-moderation errors when they involve senior political figures in Meta’s largest user market. While Meta characterised the restriction as an unintended error, the episode arrives amid increased scrutiny of platform safety and compliance with local authorities.
Meta is a Menlo Park, California-based company and has been engaged in ongoing efforts to address content and safety challenges on its services.