Meta Clarifies Removal of News Content Criticising V D Satheesan Government Was Based on Official Requests

Thiruvananthapuram: The claim that Meta removed news content critical of the V D Satheesan government due to a technical error has turned out to be false. Meta has clarified that the content was removed based on official requests. Meta has never informed the government in writing that the removals were caused by a technical error.

In a response to Reporter TV, Meta said news cards were removed following official requests. Most of the cards removed from Reporter’s social media platforms were related to news reports criticising the Chief Minister. Cards were also removed from the pages of Deshabhimani, Kairali, News Malayalam and T21.

The claim that Meta had attributed the removals to a technical error emerged after the controversy over the news restrictions intensified. Some media outlets circulated the explanation as Meta’s response, portraying the removals as an error caused by a technical issue during an AI update. Meta’s official clarification has now established that this was merely a misinformation campaign by right-wing media outlets to protect the UDF government and V D Satheesan.

The mass removal of news reports criticising the Chief Minister and the government from social media was allegedly carried out through the direct intervention of the Chief Minister’s Office. The move was allegedly coordinated secretly with the help of some officials in the Cyber Operations wing of the Kerala Police. ADGP P Vijayan currently heads the Cyber Operations wing.

In just two days, 65 news cards and posts were removed from social media through Meta for criticising the state government and Chief Minister V D Satheesan. Following widespread criticism, Meta has restored some of the posts.