Under 3-Day Ultimatum, Zuckerberg Issues Apology to India After PM Modi Video Takedown

Governments have yanked communication-platform privileges whenever the medium began shaping politics—from the U.S. 1910 Mann–Elkins Act re-classifying telephone carriers to Germany’s 2017 NetzDG that fines social networks for illegal posts. India’s threat to pull Section 79 immunity continues this lineage: a large market using local law to discipline a foreign tech giant. The episode highlights the long-term shift from platforms as passive “town squares” to algorithmic publishers that curate—and monetise—what citizens see. If India succeeds, other populous states may demand similar concessions, accelerating the century-scale move toward digital sovereignty and a splintered internet, much as national broadcast regimes replaced the early borderless airwaves by the 1930s.