Parliamentary panel pulls up Meta over removal of PM Modi’s Facebook post
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New Delhi: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology on Monday expressed serious concern over the temporary removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official Facebook post related to the NEET examination, describing the incident as one that raises significant questions about the functioning and accountability of global social media platforms.
During a meeting to examine the subject, “Social and Digital Platforms and Their Regulation”, the Committee, chaired by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, sought detailed explanations from representatives of Meta, Google, YouTube, Snapchat and X, as well as officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), sources said.
According to the sources, the Chairperson asked the ministries and social media companies to submit written replies to questions that remained unanswered within 10 days. The responses, he said, would assist the Committee in preparing its report on regulating digital platforms while ensuring transparency, accountability and public confidence.
The Chairperson described the temporary disappearance of the Prime Minister’s official Facebook post as a “highly serious issue” that could not be dismissed as a mere technical error. The Committee sought to know why the post was removed, how long it remained unavailable and what safeguards were in place to prevent similar incidents from affecting official government communications in the future.
The Committee observed that if such an incident could occur with the official account of the Prime Minister, it raised concerns about the safeguards available to ordinary users. It asked Meta to provide the complete audit trail covering the process from the reporting of the content to its eventual restoration, explain whether the removal was caused by a system failure or deliberate action, and clarify the role played by its automated content moderation and recommendation systems.
The panel also questioned whether India’s existing legal framework governing digital intermediaries was adequate to ensure transparency and accountability. It sought the government’s views on whether stronger legal provisions were required to address such incidents and sought responses from both MeitY and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The Committee also raised broader concerns over Meta’s content moderation practices, including alleged unexplained content removals, account restrictions and reduced visibility of pro-India and pro-government pages. It questioned whether the company’s policies on bullying, harassment, hate speech and coordinated abuse were being implemented in a fair and unbiased manner.
Beyond the issue concerning the Prime Minister’s post, the Committee discussed the growing threat of cybercrime. It noted that nearly 28.15 lakh cybercrime complaints involving losses of around Rs 22,495 crore were reported in 2025. The panel questioned why online fraud was not included as a separate category in platform compliance reports and called for uniform reporting standards.
The Committee also flagged concerns over a BBC Eye investigation alleging that Instagram carried advertisements linked to child sexual abuse material. It further discussed the spread of AI-generated misinformation and deepfakes, along with fake investment scams operating through social media platforms.
With IANS inputs