Meta restores posts on Keralam Chief Minister’s FB page after CMO’s intervention

Strong intervention from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) with Meta and the Union IT Ministry regarding the arbitrary removal of posts from Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan’s official Facebook page (CMO Keralam) has seen immediate results. Following a letter from the CMO, Meta has restored the official posts it had arbitrarily taken down from the Facebook page, the Chief Minister wrote on X on Saturday night.

The CMO had earlier written to Meta and the Union Ministry of Electronics and IT over the removal of the posts.

The two posts removed included one announcing the Onam festival allowance for Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) and another conveying Nabi Dina (Milad-un-Nabi) greetings, marking the observance of the birth of the Islamic Prophet Muhammed

The CMO had asked Meta to restore the posts and to clarify on the basis of IT rules, the reason why this content was taken down.

While the content is back online, the arbitrary takedown of verified government communications ranging from festival greetings to welfare notices remains a serious concern, Mr. Satheesan noted in his post on X

The Chief Minister’s Secretary Rathan U. Kelkar has taken up the matter with Meta and the Union IT Ministry, seeking a formal explanation under the IT Act, clarity on the automated or manual triggers behind the removal of content and has sought robust safeguards to protect official public communication handles, Mr. Satheesan added.

Last month, media had widely reported on how Meta had removed/restricted news posts and social media content critical of Mr. Satheesan and the United Democratic Front (UDF) government, including one by the Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan on the arrest of Youth Congress leaders on synthetic drug peddling charges

The Opposition parties had accused the government of an “undeclared social media emergency,” while the Kerala Union of Working Journalists condemned this as a threat to press freedom

Mr. Satheesan and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala had firmly denied making any requests or legal demands to Meta to take down content. The Chief Minister also said at a press conference that he had no influence over Meta and that his only prior request to Meta regarding the restoration of the CMO’s official Instagram account had gone unanswered for two months.