Meta Restores Kerala CMO's Facebook Posts After Removal Triggers Outrage
Meta restores two Kerala CMO posts after intervention.
Meta has restored two official posts removed from the Chief Minister’s Office Kerala Facebook page after the state government intervened over their deletion. The posts concerned the announcement of an Onam festival allowance for ASHA workers and greetings issued on the occasion of Nabi Day.
Chief Minister V D Satheesan announced the restoration on Saturday, noting that the Kerala CMO had strongly taken up the matter with Meta. He described the removal of the posts as arbitrary and raised concerns over the deletion of verified government communications from an official social media account.
The two posts were related to government communication and public messaging rather than political campaigning. One concerned the Onam festival allowance for ASHA workers, while the other carried greetings for Nabi Day. Their removal prompted the Chief Minister’s Office to seek both restoration and an explanation from the social media company.
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According to the CMO, its Secretary Rattan U Kelkar, IAS, took up the issue with Meta as well as the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). The state government sought clarity on the circumstances surrounding the removal and requested intervention from the Union ministry to prevent similar incidents involving official government communication channels.
The Kerala government has also sought a formal explanation under the Information Technology Act and clarification on whether the posts were removed through an automated system or following manual action. It has further requested safeguards to ensure that verified government handles can continue to publish public welfare announcements and official communications without arbitrary disruption.
The restoration of the posts came after the CMO’s intervention with Meta and the Union IT Ministry. The episode has raised broader questions about how social media platforms moderate content posted through verified government accounts, particularly when such accounts are used to communicate welfare measures, public announcements and official greetings to citizens.
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