Kerala CM denies social media censorship and MDMA case links

Kerala Chief Minister V D Satheesan has addressed allegations regarding his connection to individuals arrested in a recent MDMA drug case and claims of social media censorship. Satheesan admitted to personally knowing the two arrested individuals, Muhammad Hussain and Abdul Salam, noting that he had met Hussain previously after the latter was injured during a police lathi charge at a Nava Kerala Sadas event.

Satheesan denied accusations from the Opposition LDF that his office pressured Meta to remove news reports or posts critical of the Congress-led UDF government. He clarified that his only formal request to Meta was to restore the official Instagram account of the Chief Minister’s Office, which remains inactive after two months. He dismissed the notion that his administration could effectively gag the media by requesting the removal of a small number of posts, suggesting that similar content removals have occurred involving other state leaders.