Hyderabad Police book cases against Meta India head, social media users over Facebook posts on PM Narendra Modi

Xtreme News India   31-07-2026 20:12:58   143628573

Hyderabad Police book cases against Meta India head, social media users over Facebook posts on PM Narendra Modi

Hyderabad (correspondent) - The Rauters, PTI reported that,  Hyderabad Police have registered a case against the head of Meta India over multiple videos posted on the company's Facebook platform that depicted Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an "abusive manner," a senior police officer said on Friday. Police are preparing to send a notice to Meta Platforms regarding the case, which had not been issued as of Friday, said V Aravind Babu, deputy commissioner of police for cyber crimes in Hyderabad. 

The case adds to a string of tensions between Meta and Modi's government over content tied to the prime minister. India's IT ministry summoned Meta executives this week after Facebook briefly restricted a Modi post last week, with a top official saying the government wanted Meta to explain the matter at the highest level. A Meta spokesperson said at the time that the post, which was Modi's first where he addressed massive student protests that forced the resignation of the education minister, had been blocked inadvertently. Modi has also come in for a barrage of online criticism, jokes and ridicule by protesters in recent weeks.

Telangana BJP chief spokesperson N V Subhash on Friday demanded immediate and exemplary legal action against those responsible for creating, disseminating and amplifying morphed, abusive and derogatory content targeting PM Modi during the CJP-led NEET paper leak agitation, asserting that "freedom of speech can never become a licence for organised abuse and character assassination".

At the heart of this issue lies a "fundamental constitutional question"-- whether repeated and organised public abuse directed at a constitutional office-holder falls within the ambit of free speech or amounts to actionable misconduct, he said. The Constitution protects liberty, but it does not legitimise lawlessness. Rights come with responsibilities and accountability necessarily follows when legal limits are allegedly breached, Subhash said in a statement.

According to the FIR, a complaint was received on July 29 at 7:40 PM from T Saikiran Goud, 32, Social Media CC Member, BJP Telangana, and resident of Dr SP Mookerjee Bhavan, opposite Exhibition Ground, Nampally, Hyderabad. In the complaint, Goud stated that while surfing social media on July 29 at 2:00 PM, he came across reels and posts that were allegedly derogatory towards the Prime Minister of India and appeared to promote narratives prejudicial to national integrity.

The complainant listed 20 URLs of Instagram and Facebook reels and posts and requested an investigation. He alleged that the content may incite hatred, spread misinformation, promote enmity, and threaten national security. Goud requested the police to preserve electronic evidence, identify the individuals operating the accounts, conduct a thorough investigation, and coordinate with Meta Platforms to obtain account details. He also urged strict action against Meta for allegedly allowing such morphed reels on its platform. Based on the complaint, ASI K Hari Ram registered a case at Cyber Crime Police Station, Hyderabad under Sections 66(C), 67 of the IT Act and Sections 353(2), 336(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).