New Delhi, August 6: Former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal raised concerns on Thursday regarding Meta’s alleged restriction of his Instagram account. He stated that no one from the company’s office provided an explanation for this action.
Kejriwal, the national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party, took to the social media platform ‘X’ to express his frustration. He wrote, “Hi Meta, why have you restricted my account? Upon inquiring at your India office, I learned that my account has been restricted in India and is not available here. Why? No one at your office can explain this.”
He further added, “No one is telling me how these restrictions can be lifted. Despite sending numerous emails, I received no response, only an acknowledgment of receipt. This is very poor service. Don’t bow down so much before our Prime Minister. Otherwise, they will only allow you to run accounts that belong to them in India.”
In the meantime, Meta issued an apology on Wednesday for temporarily restricting a Facebook post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Joel Kaplan, the company’s Chief Global Affairs Officer, stated that this apology was directly communicated to Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
In a statement to NDTV, Kaplan said, “I apologized to the minister on behalf of Meta for the mistake that led to the restriction of PM Modi’s post.” Kaplan was part of a global delegation from Meta that met with Vaishnaw on Wednesday, during which the company acknowledged shortcomings in its platform’s operations.
Before the meeting with the minister, the delegation also had a separate discussion with IT Secretary S. Krishnan.
This recent apology comes at a time when Meta’s operations in India are under intense scrutiny. This investigation was prompted by concerns over content moderation and the temporary restriction of the Prime Minister’s Facebook post.
According to sources, earlier in the day, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also apologized for the spread of CSAM and deepfake content, as well as for shortcomings in the company’s platform operations. Sources indicated that Zuckerberg acknowledged the government’s concerns regarding the proliferation of objectionable and manipulated content and expressed regret over the errors in the platform’s functioning.
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