Thiruvananthapuram: Chief minister V D Satheesan on Thursday rejected allegations linking him to a man recently arrested in an MDMA case and denied that he or his office had any influence over Meta in getting social media content removed, saying the two controversies had been used to create a misleading narrative against him.Satheesan, speaking at a post-cabinet news conference, said he knew Muhammad Hussain, who was arrested in the drug case, but only because Hussain had earlier been a Youth Congress worker who was seriously injured in a police lathicharge during the previous LDF govt’s Nava Kerala Sadas programme.The CM said he first spoke to Hussain over phone while the latter was undergoing treatment after sustaining serious injuries in the lathicharge in front of MGM School at Kuruppampady in Perumbavoor. Satheesan said he had then consoled Hussain and told him that he would visit his house sometime.“After some time, when I went to Vengola panchayat to attend a programme, I visited Hussain’s house. There are photographs of that visit,” Satheesan said. He added that they had subsequently met three or four times at different places.Satheesan said his interaction with Hussain was based on his understanding that he was a party worker who had suffered injuries in police action. Neither party workers nor local residents, he said, were aware at the time that Hussain was allegedly involved in drug dealings. “Everyone came to know about it only after he was arrested,” Satheesan said.He also categorically denied reports that Hussain was part of his social media team. Satheesan said he had never appointed a social media coordinator anywhere, either when he was the leader of the opposition or after becoming CM. Satheesan’s remarks came amid allegations seeking to establish a connection between him and the accused based on their earlier interactions and photographs.Turning to the controversy over Meta’s removal of social media content, Satheesan said the allegation that he or his office had been directing Meta to take down content was completely unfounded. Satheesan said he had initially felt that the allegations themselves made the issue appear much bigger than it actually was. He clarified that the only communication sent to Meta from his office was a request to restore access to the official Instagram page of the CM’s office, Kerala.“The CMO Kerala official Instagram page existed earlier. Even after two months, it has not been restored properly,” he said, questioning how he could be accused of influencing Meta to remove social media content when he himself had been unable to get his office’s official page restored.Satheesan said several of his own social media posts had also been removed by Meta. “I don’t know why Meta is doing this. Neither I nor my office has asked Meta to remove anybody’s content. I have no such influence over Meta,” Satheesan said.If Meta was removing content on its own, the media should strongly intervene against such action, he said, adding that the state govt would support complaints made by media organisations in this regard. The CM also said that Meta had recently been removing social media content posted by CMs and others in several states, suggesting that the issue was not confined to Kerala.
