New Delhi, Aug. 4 -- The chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, Nishikant Dubey, on Monday said Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg should apologise for the temporary removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Facebook reel, warning that the company could otherwise lose the "safe harbour" protection available to intermediaries under Section 79 of the Information Technology (IT) Act. The remarks came during a meeting attended by senior officials from Meta, Google, YouTube, X and Snapchat, along with representatives of the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) and the ministry of home affairs (MHA). The meeting followed Meta's brief removal of Modi's Facebook reel, prompting the government to seek an explanation. "Meta's mindset is to destabilise the country. PM Modi's video was taken down from 12.30 am to 5 am. This is a very serious issue. Our committee has said two things - the apology must come from Mark Zuckerberg or else we will take back the safe harbour given to Meta under Section 79," Dubey told reporters. The reel, uploaded on July 23, addressed nationwide protests over the NEET-UG paper leak and announced measures including a proposed law providing for fast-track courts and stricter punishment for those involved in exam paper leaks. Section 79 of the IT Act grants intermediaries immunity from liability for third-party content hosted on their platforms, subject to compliance with due diligence requirements and lawful government directions. According to MPs present at the meeting, Meta apologised, attributing the removal to an algorithmic error. "An executive of Meta apologised for taking down PM Modi's video from Facebook. He said there was some algorithm mistake. He also assured next time it won't be repeated and that Meta will amend their algorithm," one MP said. Meta did not respond to HT's request for comment. Opposition MPs, however, opposed any move to revoke Meta's safe harbour protection. While supporting stronger regulation to curb child sexual abuse material (CSAM), deepfakes and cyber fraud, they argued that criticism of the government should not be treated as anti-national content....