Keralam Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala stated on Tuesday that neither the state government nor the police have requested Meta to remove any news articles or news cards from its platforms. This clarification comes amid ongoing discussions about the regulation of news content on social media.
“They themselves removed it. They should be asked why they did so. His remarks came amid allegations that Meta had removed news reports and social media posts criticising the state government. “If your news reports or online media posts have been removed, you should make efforts to get them restored. The government will support you in that. The government can write a letter if needed. I can write a letter to Meta if needed, stating that posts criticising me should not be removed. “Police function as per the laws of the country. There is nothing wrong in someone calling and meeting the police chief.
Neither the police nor the government had made such a request,” Chennithala told reporters here. I am ready to do that,” he had said. On reports that Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar had summoned State Police Chief Ravada A Chandrasekhar to the Lok Bhavan over a student protest at Kalady University, Chennithala said there was nothing wrong in such a meeting. The police function as per the directions of the government, not according to the Governor’s directives,” he said. He had also criticised the UDF government’s silence over what he described as the Governor’s “overbearing tendencies and constitutional violations”, calling it “extremely shameful”.
He was responding to a media question a day after Leader of Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan termed the reported summoning of the police chief by the Governor “undemocratic”.
