Meta has apologised to the government after a video featuring Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefly blocked on Facebook, with the company attributing the removal to a technical glitch, reports NDTV.
“The content was removed in error and has since been restored,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.
However, the government is reportedly treating the incident with gravity and is examining both Meta’s explanation and the circumstances that led to the video’s removal.
Sources added that Meta representatives and concerned officials may be summoned to provide a further explanation.
News agency IANS reported that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has already summoned the global heads of Meta and Instagram over the temporary blocking of the footage.
The video, which was uploaded on 23 July, featured a message from the Indian Prime Minister addressed to Gen Z during a student protest organised by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).
In that video, Modi assured students that the government would take stricter measures to curb examination paper leaks, including bringing tougher legal provisions before the Union Cabinet.
The Indian prime minister announced that instructions had been given to set up Fast-Track Courts, and that a draft law proposing strict penalties and dedicated courts for paper leak cases would be submitted to the Cabinet before being introduced in Parliament.
Modi also said that the government had ensured the academic year of nearly 22 lakh students remained unaffected, stressing that “nothing is more important than the welfare and future of our youth”.
Before the video was restored, users in India were shown a notice stating that the content had been withheld in the region following a legal request.
