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.
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 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.
