The written apology tendered to the Government of India by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is a clear reflection of the power of Indian laws. Zuckerberg apologized for the temporary removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Facebook post. His top executives admitted to significant content moderation failures, including issues with child sexual abuse material, deepfakes, and the paid boosting of certain content.
Meta’s global affairs head Joel Kaplan flew in from the US for meetings with Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Indian officials in Delhi. In a written statement said he ‘apologised to the minister on behalf of Meta for the error restricting PM Modi’s post’.
Official sources said the apology came from company chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. Meta officials admitted that a lot of illegal content was promoted, and paid promotions were carried out for specific audiences. They promised this would not be repeated. During the recent Jantar Mantar students’ protest, thousands of deepfake videos were circulated, rumours were spread through AI-generated content, inciting posts were sent from handles based in Pakistan, objectionable messages through Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp became viral and these were given a boost on social media. But Meta did not take corrective action.
Meta came into the crosshairs of the government after it temporarily restricted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s July 23 Facebook post for nearly five hours. In this video, the PM had addressed youths and had promised stringent action against paper leaks. The Prime Minister first posted his selfie video on Instagram and later shared it on Facebook, which was restricted for five hours.
Meta later restored the post, attributing its removal to “an error by AI-powered automated content filters”, and apologized. A Parliamentary Standing Committee had sought apology from Zuckerberg over the removal of Modi’s Facebook post, warning in a letter that protection and immunity available to him could be withdrawn if no apology was forthcoming within three days.
Meta was warned that if it did not tender apology, protection provided to it under ‘safe harbour clause’ will be withdrawn. Had the protection been withdrawn, the path for filing an FIR against Meta officials could have been cleared. It was when the ultimatum deadline neared, Meta officials met the minister and tendered apology. An apology by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is quite significant. I have information that the IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw grilled the Meta global policy officials during the Wednesday meeting.
Vaishnaw did his Masters in Electronics and Communication Engineering from IIT Kanpur. Pleas from Meta officials, like ‘technical error’, did not hold water during the meeting. Vaishnaw knows Meta India’s gross advertising revenue reached approximately ₹29,392 crore (around $3.5 billion) in fiscal year 2025. Meta needs India. Meta is one of the world’s most powerful companies, but its CEO had to accept its mistakes and tender apology. This reflects the might of Indian laws.
Selling adulterated food is mass murder
Beware. If you purchase cheap cow ghee, turmeric, chilli power and other spices from the market, please practice utmost caution. Maybe the cow ghee that you consume may not be having a single drop of ghee. Gujarat Police seized 30,000 litres of fake ghee from Kalol in Gandhinagar district. They were packed in nearly 2,000 cartons and were ready for dispatch to trading companies, which market them under their own brands.
Police seized refined palmolein oil (RPO) along with 223 barrels of 200 litres each, contained yellow colour chemical RM (raw material) enhancer. The entire seizure valued at Rs 1.67 crore was made in the presence of Forensic Science Lab and Food and Drugs Department officials. The factory owner admitted he used to make low quality palm oil by mixing chemicals with vegetable fat, and then mixed RM enhancer to market fake ghee. He used to add illicit chemicals labelled as “BT Negative” additives alongside adulterants like palm oil to chemically mimic and fake pure desi ghee properties.
A Baudouin Test (B.T.) Negative result indicates the absence of sesame oil or furfural compounds, which is mandatory for verifying the purity and authenticity of dairy products like pure ghee. Consumption of fake, adulterated ghee can cause heart diseases with high cholesterol and hypertension problems. The factory owner was arrested two years ago while making fake ghee, but he managed to get bail and restarted his operations. He used to supply fake ghee to buyers in Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.
In Ludhiana, Punjab, on Wednesday, nearly 3,000 litres of adulterated ghee was seized from a godown. Most of the ghee was supplied from Ahmedabad. In Kanpur, a factory making adulterated spices was raided. Nearly 2,000 kg of fake turmeric (haldi) was seized. Poor quality powdered rice was coloured with yellow dye and was being marketed as turmeric. Similarly, red colour dye was used to make chilli powder, while sawdust was dyed and sold as coriander (dhania) powder. The state food safety department officials seized Rs 5.86 lakh worth adulterated spices.
In Hyderabad, polished cloves and cumin (jeera) were seized from three different shops. Fabric dyes were being used to polish these spices. Selling fake and adulterated ghee, turmeric, cumin and cloves is a sin. Making people consume harmful adulterated food is as good as committing mass murder. In most food adulteration cases, the guilty easily get bail. The hearings continue for years, and in most cases, they are let off easily.
According to a report submitted in Parliament, 8.86 lakh food samples were taken during the last five years, and more than 20 pc samples were found adulterated. In more than 75 pc cases, those convicted were let off with paltry fines. In only 3 pc cases, the convicts were sentenced to imprisonment. I would like to praise Hyderabad police for filing cases under section relating to culpable homicide not amounting to murder against food adulterators. In such cases, they would not get bail easily and they can be sentenced to imprisonment. Other states should also follow this. There is need to strike terror in the minds of food adulterators and criminals.