Meta officials on Monday faced tough questions from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology over the removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video from Facebook. Committee chairman and BJP MP Nishikant Dubey demanded an apology from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, holding the company accountable for the incident.According to sources, Meta officials offered to apologise, stating that the video was removed due to a technical glitch. However, BJP MPs questioned how content related to the PM could be taken down and sought clarity on those responsible for the lapse. The members maintained that the issue was no longer limited to an apology and demanded that responsibility be fixed, along with appropriate legal action.Opposition MPs, however, cautioned against excessive regulation, stating that criticism of government policies or decisions should not automatically be treated as anti-national content.Meta officials were asked to submit their response in writing after the members expressed dissatisfaction with the explanation provided during the meeting.One of the MPs also raised concerns about the broader implications of such incidents, questioning the safeguards available for ordinary social media users if even the PM’s content could be removed from a platform.The meeting also witnessed discussions on concerns related to child sexual abuse material and sexually explicit content involving minors. Members cutting across party lines reportedly agreed on the need for stricter measures to curb such harmful content on digital platforms.After chairing the meeting, Dubey said the committee had raised serious concerns over the functioning of social media algorithms and the manner in which platforms such as Meta, X and YouTube handle political content and other sensitive material.”Meta India removed the PM’s content. This is not the first time Meta India has done this… they themselves admitted that the content was missing for nearly five hours, it is a very serious matter,” Dubey said.He alleged that social media platforms were not adequately addressing concerns related to child abuse content and material targeting women, claiming that digital platforms had failed to comply with guidelines issued by Indian authorities.Dubey also highlighted concerns over content recommendation algorithms, claiming that certain non-political groups and newly created platforms were gaining disproportionate reach compared to established political parties.”If you look at the viewership algorithm of the BJP, Congress, Samajwadi Party, and Aam Aadmi Party, the viewership is only 23 million. And those who are neither registered parties nor registered NGOs, their algorithm is 27 million. All parties together are at 23-24 million. An anti-reservation forum has just been formed five or six days ago, and it reached seven million. The reason for that is that they have a policy of giving preference to newcomers,” the MP said.Those present were representatives of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Home Affairs, Snapchat, Google, X, Meta (Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram) and YouTube.