Kejriwal Accuses Meta of Restricting His Account
Indian politician Arvind Kejriwal has accused Meta of restricting one of his social media accounts in India without explanation. The allegations follow Meta's apology to the Indian government for a previous post removal.
Arvind Kejriwal, a prominent Indian politician and national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party, publicly accused Meta on Thursday of restricting one of his social media accounts in India without providing a reason. The allegation surfaced a day after Meta had apologized to the Indian government for temporarily removing a Facebook post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Kejriwal took to X, formerly Twitter, to question Meta and Meta India about the restriction, stating that verbal inquiries at Meta's India office confirmed his account was unavailable within the country. He reported receiving no explanation or guidance on how to resolve the issue, with emails only yielding automated acknowledgements.
The politician criticized Meta's service, warning the company against "bowing down" to Prime Minister Modi. This follows Meta's apology for mistakenly removing Modi's post concerning government action on exam paper leaks, a move that had drawn scrutiny and led to a meeting between Meta executives and India's IT Minister.
Kejriwal's complaint adds to a series of recent account restrictions on Meta platforms in India that have drawn criticism. Previously, access to a popular Muslim-focused news page was restricted following a government request, which the page's founder described as censorship. Meta's transparency reports indicate routine removal and restriction of numerous accounts in India for policy violations.
Meta has not issued a public statement addressing Kejriwal's specific accusations or providing a reason for the account restriction. The company has also not offered a timeline for resolving the issue.