‘Don't bow down to PM’: Arvind Kejriwal says Meta restricted his Facebook account; access now restored

Arvind Kejriwal, former Delhi Chief Minister and AAP National Convenor, recently expressed his frustration with Meta's restriction on his Facebook account in India. In a post on X, Kejriwal questioned Meta and Meta India, asking why his account was restricted and remained unavailable. Despite multiple attempts at verbal inquiries, he received no clear answers or suggestions on how to remove the restrictions.

Kejriwal emphasized that Meta should not bow down to the Prime Minister, as it would deny others the opportunity to use the platform.

However, Kejriwal's Instagram account has now been restored, and both accounts are functioning normally in India. This development comes amid increased scrutiny of Meta in India, following a recent probe into alleged advertisements promoting Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM) on the platform. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had apologized to the central government for the content issue, deepfake material, and operational errors on the platform.

India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) summoned Meta's senior officials following Meta's decision to block a video shared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The company later attributed the block to a technical glitch. A delegation from Meta, led by Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan, met MeitY Secretary S Krishnan on Wednesday to explain the reasons behind the Modi video's removal.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology had also demanded an apology from Zuckerberg for the dispute over the Modi video.