Thiruvananthapuram | Keralam Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala on Tuesday said neither the state government nor the police had asked Meta to remove any news report or news card from its platforms.
"They themselves removed it. They should be asked why they did so. Neither the police nor the government had made such a request," Chennithala told reporters here.
His remarks came amid allegations that Meta had removed news reports and social media posts criticising the state government.
Chief Minister V D Satheesan had recently clarified that his office had made only one request to Meta -- to restore the official Instagram account of the Chief Minister's Office (CMO Keralam) -- but it had not been restored even after two months.
Satheesan had also said several posts favourable to him had also been removed from social media.
"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. 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.
"Police function as per the laws of the country. There is nothing wrong in someone calling and meeting the police chief. The police function as per the directions of the government, not according to the Governor's directives," he said.
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".
Vijayan, in a Facebook post, alleged that the Governor's move amounted to direct interference in the administration of the state without respecting the elected government.
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".