The Kerala Chief Minister’s Office has escalated tensions with Meta, lodging a formal complaint with the tech conglomerate and the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology after two routine official updates vanished from Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan’s official Facebook page.

Key Facts

  • Targeted Page: CMO Keralam, the official Facebook page of Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan.
  • Removed Content: An announcement on Onam festival allowances for ASHA workers, alongside Nabi Dina (Milad-un-Nabi) greetings.
  • Official Action: Chief Minister’s Secretary Rathan U. Kelkar has sought post restoration, regulatory clarity under IT rules, and central government intervention.

Inexplicable Removals Spark Outrage

The posts wiped from the "CMO Keralam" account were neither combative nor contentious. One outlined an Onam festival financial allowance directed to Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), while the other extended seasonal greetings for Nabi Dina, marking the birth of the Prophet Muhammad. In a communication addressed to Meta, Chief Minister’s Secretary Rathan U. Kelkar demanded that the platform immediately restore the deleted updates and provide an explicit justification under prevailing IT rules for the takedown.

The CMO also turned to the Union IT Ministry, calling for central authorities to step in and prevent such arbitrary moderation by global social media intermediaries from recurring.

Lingering Accusations and Moderation Chaos

The controversy follows weeks of mounting friction surrounding content moderation in the state. Only last month, Meta faced intense scrutiny after removing or restricting multiple news articles and posts critical of Mr. Satheesan and the governing United Democratic Front (UDF).

Among the suppressed content was a post authored by Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan regarding the arrest of Youth Congress leaders facing synthetic drug peddling charges. That suppression prompted sharp backlash across the political spectrum:

Opposition parties alleged an "undeclared social media emergency," while the Kerala Union of Working Journalists denounced the algorithmic curbs as a direct threat to press freedom.

Government Denies Platform Influence

Both Chief Minister Satheesan and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala had previously pushed back against claims that the administration orchestrated any takedown notices, categorically denying that they had submitted requests or legal orders to Meta targeting political critics.

Addressing the matter in a prior press briefing, Mr. Satheesan stated that his office wields zero leverage over the platform’s administrative machinery. To underscore the disconnect, the Chief Minister pointed out that an earlier appeal sent to Meta requesting the restoration of the CMO’s official Instagram account had sat completely ignored for over two months.