The Government on Wednesday issued a three-day ultimatum to Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg, asking him to apologise for removing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s consequential video on exam reforms from the platform for nearly six hours.At a meeting with Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan and Vice-President and Head of Global Policy Kevin Martin, IT Secretary S Krishnan said the company would lose safe harbour protection under Section 79(3) of the Information Technology Act in the event of non-compliance.The Meta executives had been summoned by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology over the Prime Minister’s video issue and the presence of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) on the platform.The government directed Meta to remove all objectionable content and comply with Indian laws. The social media giant has been given three days to respond to the directions and ensure compliance.Ahead of the meeting, taking strong exception to the removal of PM Modi’s video, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology asked the government to discontinue the safe harbour protection available to Meta if an unconditional apology from Zuckerberg is not received within three days.In a letter to Krishnan, with a copy marked to Home Secretary Govind Mohan, the panel said the Meta chief should be proceeded against if he fails to tender an unqualified apology within three days of receiving the communication.“The protection/immunity given under Section 79(3) of the IT Act may be withdrawn and action taken against him as a Publisher,” the panel said.The committee said the removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video addressing students and Gen Z on examination controversies and strict action against paper leaks from Facebook for five to six hours was viewed “very seriously”.The Parliamentary Standing Committee recently convened a meeting on August 3 with officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, and representatives of major social and digital media platforms, including Snapchat, Google, X, Meta (Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram), and YouTube.The discussions centred on the regulation of social and digital media platforms and their accountability under Indian law.During the meeting, the committee also expressed serious concern over the availability of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) and content demeaning women on intermediary platforms. It recommended strict action against platforms that fail to remove such illegal content.The committee said that if intermediaries do not promptly take down CSAM from their platforms, action should be initiated against them under Section 79(3) of the Information Technology Act, which governs the safe harbour protections available to intermediaries.