Mark Zuckerberg's Meta has no business taking down PM's post: MeitY Secretary S Krishnan

New Delhi: Meta Platforms, which owns the popular social networking sites Facebook and Instagram, has "no business" taking down authorised content of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the company's explanation is inadequate, a top government official said.

"I don't think that Meta has any business taking down a post that was duly authorised, and nobody was asking or complaining about it. I think their explanation is not satisfactory enough. They are a large company and supposed to have the most advanced technology," Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY) Secretary S Krishnan told ET.

Also read: Meta to explain PM Modi post removal at highest level, expresses regret over incident: IT Secretary S Krishnan


Early this week, the American multinational removed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's video message to students during the 36-day agitation led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) over irregularities in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) 2026 (NEET) examination.

Mark Zuckerberg-owned Meta's takedown comes as Modi’s Instagram followers surpassed the 105 million mark, and his video on the paper-leak issue crossed 303 million views within 24 hours of posting.

Modi is one of the most-followed political figures across social platforms.

"It is an authorised account of the Prime Minister of the largest democracy, and has a large number of followers. They indicated a technical glitch on their end, and they apologised. It is good they apologised and accepted their mistake," Krishnan added.

In a 175-second video clip Modi assured students that action against paper leaks would be announced at an upcoming Cabinet meeting, and that the government would set up fast-track courts and bring in necessary legislation.

The Centre later introduced the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill 2026, which proposed imprisonment of up to 10 years, penalties, and the setting up of fast-track courts. The agitation by Gen-Z was called off on 25 July after the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Also read: Telangana Police book Meta India head, social media account operators over alleged objectionable posts targeting PM Modi

Early this week, the government also summoned Meta's global head of public policy Kevin Martin.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, headed by Lawmaker Nishikant Dubey, will meet on 3 August to take up the regulatory issues related to social and digital platforms. Attendees will include officials from MeitY and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), as well as executives from Meta, X (formerly Twitter) and Google.