Mark Zuckerberg sends apologies for ‘errors in operating the platform’, government sources say

“Iapologised to the Minister on behalf of Meta for the error restricting PM Modi’s post,” Meta’s global head of public policy Joel Kaplan said in a statement shared by a Meta spokesperson.

Meta chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg conveyed his “apologies” for child sex abuse material (CSAM), “deepfake content and errors in operating the platform,” government sources said, after Joel Kaplan, the technology giant’s global head of public policy, met with officials from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on Wednesday (August 5, 2026).

“Meta will be called again,” the sources said, indicating that further meetings are on the slate. The delegation led by Mr. Kaplan also met Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

Mr. Kaplan had been summoned, among other things, to explain why Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s first video message to the youth posted on July 23 was temporarily removed from Facebook. The company had attributed it to an error. The government had insisted on full accounting of the error and a personal apology from Mr. Zuckerberg. The informal readout of the meeting did not include a specific reference to that post’s takedown.

“Iapologised to the Minister on behalf of Meta for the error restricting PM Modi’s post,” Mr. Kaplan said in a statement shared by a Meta spokesperson.

The official sources added, “They select who receives the content. Safe harbour under IT Act is not applicable. They admitted that a lot of money was paid for boosting a certain type of content. They apologised and regretted the mistake … Meta accepted the mistake that a lot of illegal content was promoted... Paid promotion carried out for specific audience.”

Earlier in the day, according to a letter from the Lok Sabha Secretariat, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party ’s Nishikant Dubey, demanded that Google India’s safe harbour be lifted, thereby leaving the firm liable for individual users’ posts as a publisher. The letter, seen by, cited cybercrime complaints in Hyderabad where complainants lost over ₹48 lakh to cyberfrauds from apps downloaded from Google Play, where Google’s India country manager was named as a co-accused.

The letter was addressed to IT Secretary S. Krishnan and copied to Home Secretary Govind Mohan. The IT Ministry and Meta did not have an immediate response to a query on the letter when contacted by. Google declined to comment.

“During the deliberations, the Committee demanded an apology from Mr. Mark Zukerberg, Meta Chief on this issue,” the committee wrote in the letter. “If he fails to tender an unqualified apology within 3 days of receipt of this letter, the protection/immunity given under Section 79(3) of IT Act may be withdrawn and action taken against him as a Publisher.”

Figures on the record in this material: 5; 2026; 23; ₹48; 3; 79; 2000; 2021.

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