Parliamentary panel grills Meta over removal of PM's NEET post, raises concern over cyber frauds and AI misuse: Sources

The Parliamentary Committee on Communications and Information Technology discussed 'Social and Digital Platforms and their Regulation' at its meeting on Monday with Chairperson Nishikant Dubey raising concerns over the temporary removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's social media post on the NEET examination last month, noting that it as a serious issue that warranted a detailed explanation from Meta, according to sources.

The Parliamentary Committee on Communications and Information Technology discussed 'Social and Digital Platforms and their Regulation' at its meeting on Monday with Chairperson Nishikant Dubey raising concerns over the temporary removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's social media post on the NEET examination last month, noting that it as a serious issue that warranted a detailed explanation from Meta, according to sources. Sources said Dubey, in his opening remarks, questioned how the Prime Minister's official post could have been taken down, how long it remained unavailable for over four hours and what safeguards were in place to prevent such incidents. He is learnt to have observed that if content from the Prime Minister's official account could be affected, it raised wider concerns about the transparency, accountability and reliability of systems used by digital platforms.

According to sources, the Committee sought a detailed explanation from Meta on the circumstances leading to the removal of the Facebook post, the audit trail of the incident, the process through which it was restored and the measures being adopted to ensure that similar incidents do not recur. Meta had said on July 28 that PM Modi's Facebook video on action against examination paper leaks was removed due to a technical error and was restored.

"The content was removed in error and has since been restored," a Meta spokesperson had said in a statement. The video, released on July 23, marked Prime Minister Modi's remarks to Gen Z during the protest against NEET-UG paper leak.

In the video, the Prime Minister assured students that the government would take stronger action against examination paper leaks, saying stricter legal provisions would be brought before the Union Cabinet. The cabinet later approved the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026. The Bill has since been passed by the both Houses of Parliament.

Sources said Dubey also used his opening remarks to highlight the growing challenge posed by cyber fraud, AI-generated misinformation and deepfakes, stressing the need for stronger accountability mechanisms for digital intermediaries. The sources said that data was given during the meeitng about cyber fraud incidents and queries raised about the platforms not publishing proactive fraud-detection performance.

Dubey is learnt to have referred to the sharp rise in cybercrime complaints and the increasing misuse of social media platforms for financial fraud and dissemination of manipulated content. The Committee Chairperson is also learnt to have pointed to the need for visible labelling of AI content and stronger measures to prevent the spread of harmful content affecting children and the public and asked about safeguards against deepfake investment scams.

Sources said Meta was asked to clarify whether its rules and policies on bullying, harassment, threats and coordinated abuse are applied in an unbiased manner and it was pointed out that several pro-India pages have faced unexplained removals. It was noted that the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 stipulate clear legal obligations on intermediaries.

The meeting also saw members raising concerns over transparency in content moderation, grievance redress mechanisms and compliance reporting by digital platforms. According to sources, the Committee questioned why fraud-related incidents are not reflected as a separate category in compliance reports and discussed the need for uniform reporting standards across intermediaries.

Child safety also figured prominently during the discussions. Sources said the Committee sought explanations over reports relating to advertisements linked to child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and asked platforms to detail the safeguards being implemented to detect and prevent such content. Representatives of the Ministries of Home Affairs and Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) attended the meeting.

Executives from Meta, X and YouTube responded to questions raised by members. According to sources, the Committee has sought detailed written replies on several issues that remained unanswered during the proceedings. Sources said the Committee underscored that its objective was to strengthen transparency, accountability and user safety on digital platforms while ensuring that innovation and freedom of expression are not adversely impacted.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has also summoned Meta over the brief taking down of PM Modi's, with Secretary S Krishnan stating that the company's explanation of a "technical error" does not appear to be acceptable in its entirety. (ANI)