New Delhi: A major row has erupted over the blocking of a video by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Facebook in India briefly.
Mera has since apologised to the government, attributing the removal to a technical glitch, sources familiar with the matter said, as reported by NDTV.
“The content was removed in error and has since been restored,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.
The government is treating the incident seriously and is examining both Meta’s explanation and the circumstances that led to the video’s removal, sources said.
They added that Meta representatives and concerned officials may be summoned to provide an explanation.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) summoned Meta and Instagram’s global heads over the temporary blocking of the video, IANS reported.
PM Modi uploaded the video on July 23. It was a message to Gen Z during the student protest organised by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), seeking the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the NEET UG 2026 paper leak.
The Prime Minister, in his address, said the government would announce tougher measures to tackle paper leaks. He had assured students that the government would take stricter measures to curb examination paper leaks, including bringing tougher legal provisions before the Union Cabinet.
Directions had been issued to set up Fast-Track Courts and that a draft law proposing stringent punishment and special courts for paper leak cases would be placed before the Cabinet before being introduced in Parliament, PM Modi had said.
The government had ensured that the academic year of nearly 22 lakh students remained unaffected and stressed that “nothing is more important than the welfare and future of our youth”, the Prime Minister has said in the video message.
The address had garnered millions of views before access to the video was briefly restricted on Facebook sometime after 1 am on July 24.
Around 1.21 am on that day, BJP leader Tajinder Bagga posted on X: “Facebook has crossed every limit. It has blocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s post on strict action against paper leaks from being seen in India.”
Around 1.25 am, the “See Why” option on the video showed that the content had been restricted in India in compliance with a legal request.
