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 important 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, X as well as officials of the Ministries of Home Affairs and Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), sources said.
According to sources, the Chairperson asked the ministries and social media companies to submit written replies to unanswered questions within 10 days, saying the inputs would help the Committee prepare its report on regulating digital platforms while ensuring transparency, accountability and public confidence.
The Chairperson said the temporary disappearance of the Prime Minister’s official Facebook post was a “highly serious issue” that could not be dismissed as a mere technical error. He said the Committee wanted to know why the post was removed, how long it remained unavailable, and what safeguards existed to prevent similar incidents affecting official government communications in future.
The Committee observed that if such an incident could occur with the Prime Minister’s official account, it raised concerns about the protection available to ordinary users. It asked Meta to provide the complete audit trail from the reporting of the content to its eventual restoration, explain whether the removal resulted from a system failure or deliberate action, and clarify the role of 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 asked the government whether stronger legal provisions were required to deal with such incidents and sought the views of both MeitY and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The Committee also raised broader concerns about Meta’s content moderation practices, including alleged unexplained removals, account restrictions, and reduced visibility of pro-India and pro-government pages. It asked whether the company’s policies on bullying, harassment, hate speech and coordinated abuse were being implemented in a fair and unbiased manner.
Beyond the PM’s post, the Committee discussed rising cybercrime, noting that nearly 28.15 lakh cybercrime complaints involving losses of around Rs 22,495 crore were reported in 2025. It questioned why online fraud did not feature as a separate category in platform compliance reports and called for uniform reporting standards.
The Committee also flagged concerns over the BBC Eye investigation alleging Instagram carried advertisements linked to child sexual abuse material, the spread of AI-generated misinformation and deepfakes, and fake investment scams on social media.
(IANS)
