MeitY Secretary said said Meta has to give reasons on the cause that led to the incident
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New Delhi, July 30: The government will hold discussions with social media major Meta on policy and technical matters within a week over several concerns, including the removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Facebook post, a senior official at Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said on Thursday.“They will be coming and explaining what the situation is. We want to have both a policy-level and a technical understanding of the issues, and an adaptation to the kinds of concerns India has in this regard. There are several issues we have, which we will raise with them when they come. I think, within the next week, they will be coming,” S Krishnan, Secretary, MeitY, said.Speaking on the sidelines of the CII conference on semiconductors, he said that the government has asked Meta to come in at the highest level and explain the issue that led to the glitch.Restricted VideoThe government summoned Meta’s public policy head after the PM’s Facebook post, on July 23, addressing India’s youth and promising stringent measures against exam paper leaks, was briefly restricted by the US-headquartered social media giant.Modi’s July 23 Instagram post, later shared on Facebook, marked his first direct selfie video aimed at engaging with the youth and underscoring the government’s commitment to crack down on exam paper leaks amid students’ protests organised by the Cockroach Janta Party. The Facebook version of the post was briefly restricted by Meta before being restored.Following the incident, the global head of public policy of Meta (Facebook and Instagram) was summoned by Meity.Technical GlitchMeta, the owner of social media platform Facebook, is learnt to have written to the government outlining the specifics of enhanced and rigorous safeguards it has now implemented for content posted by the Prime Minister and other prominent accounts.While Meta attributed the incident to a technical glitch and apologised, MeitY has found the explanation “inadequate”.The social media giant has now informed the Ministry that posts by the Prime Minister and select prominent accounts will be subject to additional oversight on the platform, with multiple levels of checks involving senior company officials.Any decision will undergo rigorous checks and require review by at least two senior officials of the company, government sources said, citing the social media firm’s latest communication to MeitY.Corrective MeasuresMeta has expressed regret over the incident, and explained the circumstances that led to it adding that the company has also outlined the corrective measures it has since implemented, and shared its assessment, sources have confirmed.However, Krishnan said Meta has to give reasons on the cause that led to the incident.“They have also given us the reasons, their understanding of the reason why it happened. They have also indicated that as of July 28, they have established new protocols relating to accounts of prominent persons to avoid such a situation from occurring,” he added.EndPublished on July 30, 2026
