Satheesan Lies About Media Restrictions; Centre-State Collusion Suspected as Posts Criticising Govt Disappears from Social Media

Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister V D Satheesan has lied about the unannounced restrictions imposed on social media. Satheesan claimed today that the government had no role in the attack on the media and freedom of expression.

Usually, restrictions were imposed on news critical of the Centre. However, over the past few days, even posts criticising the UDF government, that have no connection with the Central government have been disappearing. Posts cannot be restricted in this manner without a request from the Keralam state government to social media representatives. Platforms such as Meta generally consider requests from the respective governments or senior officials associated with them in such matters. Therefore, there is a clear indication of the Kerala government’s involvement in restricting posts related to the state government.

Satheesan has claimed that his posts have also disappeared. However, when asked why he had not initiated legal action over the removal of those posts, he remained completely silent.

There are also suspicions of collusion between the Central government and Satheesan over the removal of posts related to the state government. If the removals were carried out without a request from the state government, the Centre may have intervened in the matter on behalf of Satheesan. Instances of alleged collusion between Satheesan and the Centre have previously emerged in several matters, including PM SHRI.

Satheesan, who is alleged to have shown strong intolerance towards political criticism, is imposing restrictions similar to the harsh censorship witnessed during the Emergency. Around 50 news reports and social media cards from prominent media outlets exposing the government’s corruption and failures have been removed from the social media platforms in the past 24 hours.