Meta has apologised to India’s Information Technology Minister after temporarily restricting a Facebook post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, following criticism from Indian authorities over the company’s content moderation practices.
According to Reuters, Meta executive Joel Kaplan apologised to the minister and said the restriction resulted from an error in the company’s content moderation system. Meta previously described the incident as a technical glitch involving its automated review processes.
The controversy began last month when Facebook briefly limited access to a video posted by Modi, prompting Indian officials to question the company’s handling of political content and demand greater accountability from social media platforms.
The incident has intensified scrutiny of technology companies operating in India, where authorities have repeatedly called on platforms to improve monitoring of harmful content and comply with national regulations.
Meanwhile, Hyderabad police have filed a case against Arun Srinivas, Meta’s India head, over videos on Facebook that officials said contained offensive content targeting Modi.
The dispute comes as New Delhi and major technology companies continue to debate issues including online safety, political content moderation and platform responsibility.
Indian media have also reported that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologised to Indian officials over broader concerns related to content moderation failures, including illegal content and deepfake material.
Meta said it does not allow harmful or illegal content on its platforms and is working to strengthen its systems to detect and remove such material more effectively.
The episode highlights growing global tensions between governments and technology companies over how online platforms manage political speech, misinformation and harmful content.
