Centre grills Meta; firm’s global team apologises for temporary removal of PM’s Facebook post

Meta on Wednesday apologised for the temporary removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Facebook post, while also acknowledging shortcomings in tackling child sexual abuse material, deepfakes and illegal content during a meeting with Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday, government sources said.

While Meta’s global affairs chief Joel Kaplan, who travelled from the US for meetings with Indian officials, said in a written statement that he “apologised to the minister on behalf of Meta for the error restricting PM Modi’s post”, government sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, claimed the apology came from company chief executive Mark Zuckerberg.