The Indian Parliamentary Committee on Communications and Information Technology has given Mark Zuckerberg a 72-hour deadline to apologise over Facebook’s restriction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s posts, and has threatened to recommend revoking Meta’s legal protection, or Safe Harbor, in India if he fails to do so. The dispute arose after Facebook restricted a post by Modi communicating with students during Gen Z protests in July, which Meta described as an error. Safe Harbor is a principle that shields platforms from liability for user-generated content, and if revoked, Meta could face direct legal responsibility for the vast amount of content on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp in its largest user market in the world. Legal experts note that under current law, Safe Harbor revocation would apply on a per-content basis, not to the entire platform, so a full withdrawal of protection would likely require amending the law first. Joel Kaplan, Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer, has already apologised to the Minister of Information Technology, but the committee insists on a direct apology from Zuckerberg.
Meta Platforms Inc.Indian committee threatens to revoke Meta's Safe Harbor over Zuckerberg's failure to apologize, risking legal liability for user content.
