The Central Government has reportedly summoned Meta, the parent company of Facebook, over the removal of a video featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Facebook.The video was posted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi late on the night of June 23, following continuous protests by young people at Jantar Mantar in Delhi over the NEET question paper leak issue. In the video, PM Modi assured that fast-track courts would be set up to investigate question paper leak cases and that a new bill would soon be passed in Parliament.The video quickly went viral across various social media platforms. However, the video was reportedly removed from Facebook the following morning. Following this incident, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has issued a summons to Meta.According to Central Government sources, Meta’s Head of Global Affairs Joel Kaplan and Instagram Head Adam Mosseri have also been summoned to explain the issue.A Meta spokesperson said that the video was accidentally removed due to a technical error. The video has since been restored, and the company apologised for the mistake.However, Central Government sources said that Meta’s explanation was not satisfactory. They described the removal of the Prime Minister’s video as a serious matter and said that senior Meta officials would be asked to appear in person and provide an explanation.The Central Government has recently taken action against Meta on other issues as well. The company was asked to explain advertisements allegedly involving the sexual exploitation of minors on Instagram. The government had also raised strong objections to WhatsApp’s proposed username feature, following which the plan has reportedly been put on hold.
