Kerala Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan
| Photo Credit: H. VIBHU
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.
