Kerala Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan on Thursday (August 13, 2026) denied making any request to Meta to remove news items related to him or the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government from Facebook.

The Opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) had on Wednesday accused the UDF government of clamping down an “undeclared social media emergency” by allegedly removing several posts as well as news reports related to the arrest of Youth Congress leaders on synthetic drug peddling charges. Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday posted screenshots of the removal of news reports of his own statements on one of the accused being close to Mr. Satheesan.

Speaking to mediapersons after the Cabinet meeting, Mr. Satheesan said no one from his office or the government had made any request to Meta to remove posts.

“We have no idea how Meta is deciding on these things. Three news items favourable to me, including one on the Latin Archbishop’s praise for the government’s interventions in the coastal sector, have also been removed. This has been happening in other States too after a meeting of Meta officials with the Union government recently. The only request I have given to Meta till now is to give us access to the official CMO Keralam page on Instagram. But even after two months, no decision has been taken on it,” said Mr. Satheesan.

He asked the aggrieved news channels to “proceed with a complaint” to Meta. “The government will support you in this. I am only happy if these news items are reinstated. I don’t have the false impression that social media can be silenced by removing a few posts,” he said.

All posts and news reports which were removed were from platforms managed by Meta.

As per the screenshots shared by Mr. Vijayan, access to multiple news reports from the Facebook pages of News Malayalam 24X7, Reporter Live, Kairali News and Deshabhimani were restricted in India as per “legal requirements” under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. Such regional blocking of posts are usually carried out under demands from the government. Some social media users also posted that their earlier posts with videos and photographs of one of the MDMA case accused with the Chief Minister were removed.

Regarding allegations of his proximity to the accused in the MDMA racket bust, Mr. Satheesan said he knew K.H. Mohammed Hussain and P.A. Abdul Salam, but came to know about their connection to drug rackets “only after their arrest” during the Operation Toofan anti-drug drive.

“I first came in touch with Hussain, a Youth Congress worker, after he was injured in the police action during the LDF government’s Nava Kerala Sadas. I consoled him over the phone and promised that I would visit his house. Later when I visited the panchayat, I paid a visit to him. After that we met 3-4 times at various places, but no one had any idea about his drug racket connections,” said Mr. Satheesan.

Published - August 13, 2026 12:27 pm IST