Meta India head named in police case over Facebook videos targeting Modi
Fresh scrutiny of Meta intensifies amid India's online content crackdown.
Highlights
- Police preparing to send notice to Meta
- Case follows India's tightening of content rules
- India is Facebook's biggest market by users
Police in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad have registered a case against the head of Meta India, Arun Srinivas, 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.
The videos spread as Modi contended with the biggest wave of youth-led protests India has seen in more than a decade, a movement over leaked papers in national examinations that has led to the resignation of his education minister.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Police are preparing to send a notice to Meta Platforms regarding the case, said V Aravind Babu, deputy commissioner of police for cyber crimes in Hyderabad.
Meta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Friday.
It was not immediately clear why Srinivas had been named personally, a rare move against a senior executive of a global tech firm. India has tightened its content rules this year, narrowing the legal shield that protects platforms from liability for what their users post and raising the exposure of the executives who run them.
Since February, platforms must remove unlawful content flagged by courts or the government within three hours, down from 36, or lose that protection.
Holding someone personally responsible normally requires proof of "an active role and knowledge," said Akash Karmakar, a technology law partner at Indian law firm Panag & Babu.
Meta has repeatedly drawn the ire of the Indian government over content posted by its users, and faced criticism that it does too little to police hate speech and misinformation on Facebook and Instagram.
Facebook's Biggest Market by Users
The case builds on a run of tensions between Meta and Modi's government over content tied to the prime minister. Modi has faced a barrage of online criticism, jokes and ridicule by protesters in recent weeks.
India's IT ministry summoned Meta executives this week after Facebook briefly restricted a Modi post, with a top official saying the government wanted the company 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 the massive student protests, had been blocked inadvertently.
India is Facebook's biggest market by users. Srinivas is Meta's managing director and head for India since July 2025.
The case against him is among many others that were filed based on complaints by supporters of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, who alleged that manipulated videos and images of the prime minister were being circulated on Meta-owned social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, local media reported earlier.
