Hyderabad Police book Meta India head over PM Modi-targeting posts

Hyderabad's Cybercrime Police have registered cases against Meta India head Arun Srinivas and several Facebook and Instagram accounts over the alleged circulation of morphed and objectionable content targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the recent protests over the NEET paper leak.

The cases have been filed under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act following complaints lodged by businessman S. Aravind Reddy and Telangana BJP activist T. Saikiran Goud.

According to the complaints, the complainants came across multiple Facebook and Instagram posts containing digitally manipulated videos and images that allegedly portrayed the Prime Minister in an obscene, derogatory and misleading manner.

The complaints further alleged that the accompanying comments contained offensive and indecent language directed at the Prime Minister and others featured in the content, contributing to its wider circulation on social media. The material was described as being digitally altered or generated using artificial intelligence.

The complainants argued that the content had the potential to mislead the public, spread misinformation, incite hatred, disturb public order and undermine the dignity of public figures, besides violating provisions of existing law.

As part of his complaint, Saikiran Goud submitted a list of 20 Facebook and Instagram links and sought action against Meta for allegedly allowing the content to remain on its platforms.

Police have initiated an investigation and are attempting to identify the individuals operating the social media accounts named in the complaints while also seeking details related to the accounts.

The development comes days after Meta apologised for briefly restricting access to a video uploaded on Prime Minister Modi's official Facebook account before restoring it, describing the removal as an error.

With IANS inputs