Meta Apologises After PM Modi Video Was Removed on Facebook in India Government Seeks Explanation

Meta has apologised after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Facebook video was mistakenly blocked in India due to a technical glitch. The Indian government has summoned Meta for an explanation over the incident.

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Meta has apologized following the temporary blocking of a Facebook video by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that was posted on the site because of what the company referred to as a technical glitch. This situation has gained public attention and resulted in the Indian government requesting an explanation from the social media company, which is currently investigating how the content of the Prime Minister was blocked inadvertently.

The video, which had already gained millions of views before being temporarily blocked, was eventually unblocked by Meta. The company has made it clear that the blockage of the video was due to a technical mistake and not due to a deliberate action by the social media platform.

Meta Says PM Modi Video Was Removed Due to a Technical Glitch

An official from Meta issued a statement to ANI apologizing for the accident and admitted to it. The company also added that the removal of the post was an accident and it was put back online soon after they realized the error.

According to the official announcement from Meta, the temporary block on the video occurred due to a technical malfunction as opposed to being because of any violation of their policies. For the short while that the video was not available, people in India who tried to view the video would see a notification saying that the video was unavailable in the country due to a legal demand.

Despite Meta calling the incident an error, there are some doubts about the moderation process used by the social media giant following this accidental block of the Prime Minister's official video.

Indian Government Summons Meta Over the Incident

The situation has now been escalated to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) which is allegedly taking the matter seriously.

Based on the reports quoting the officials of the government, MeitY has called the global leaders of Meta and Instagram to explain the matter as far as the temporary blocking of the video of the Prime Minister was concerned. The officials will try to understand how exactly the whole episode of the video being taken down happened and why the users were told that the content had been withheld after the legal request.

It may also be known whether the problem was only because of the technical glitch or some other internal systems were responsible for the whole error.

What Was PM Modi's Facebook Video About?

It is pertinent to note that the video was first uploaded on July 23rd and showed Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing India's youth as part of CJP-led students' agitation.

In his speech, Prime Minister Modi made it clear that there were plans by the government to deal with cases of exam papers leak. The government was planning to table a bill in Parliament soon which will contain harsh penalties on people involved in exam leak cases. In addition to this, the bill will also contain provisions for setting up special courts to expedite the process of trial.

Modi also indicated that directions have already been issued for setting up of fast track courts for such offenses. Moreover, he added that the government has managed to make sure that the academic year of about 22 lakh students has been spared from recent controversies regarding examinations.

As part of the priority of the government, the Prime Minister stated that protecting the future of students is one of the most important considerations of the government.

The speech came amidst efforts of the government to connect with younger audiences via digital platforms during the student protests in Delhi.

During the protests, the protesters were complaining about irregularities during exams and asking for more government intervention. According to later reports, the government agreed to meet three major demands, including compensating for the deaths of NEET candidates that occurred due to the problems with the exam process, stopping lawsuits against protesting students, and resignation of the Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan.

After the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) stated that the protest movement in Delhi was over. According to some reports, the Prime Minister Modi had been encouraging the use of such social media platforms as Facebook and Instagram to reach out to Gen Z audiences. As a consequence, the blocking of one of his official videos became an instant issue for the government.

The incident has reopened debates regarding the trustworthiness of the automated content moderation processes at popular social media networks. In the event of accidental content moderation of important government communications, it leads to concerns related to transparency, accountability of the platforms, and the effectiveness of the content moderation process.

Although Meta has already reinstated the video and apologized for the mistake, the move from the side of the government to ask for an explanation is an indication that the matter will not be left at this and may become a starting point for further debates regarding platform accountability in India.

For now, the Prime Minister's video can be found again on Facebook while the government looks into the incident of the video being removed temporarily.