Meta India head named in FIR over posts targeting PM

Complaints by two BJP supporters lead to FIRs against Meta executive and social media account operators

The Hyderabad Cyber Crime Police has filed two separate First Information Reports (FIRs) against Arun Srinivas, Meta India’s country head, as well as the operators of several Instagram and Facebook accounts on complaints from two BJP supporters that objectionable content about the Prime Minister was shared during a recent Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)-led protest.

The FIRs, filed on July 29, mention Sections 66C (identity theft) and Section 67 (publishing or sharing obscene material online) of the Information Technology Act, as well as Sections 353(2) and 336(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which deal with public mischief and making forged electronic records that harm reputations. Police have named unknown account operators and Meta’s India head as co-accused.

T Saikiran Goud, 32, who is part of the Telangana BJP’s social media committee in Nampally, filed one of the complaints. On July 29, he reported seeing about 20 Instagram reels and Facebook posts with allegedly altered images and negative content about the PM. He gave police the URLs of these posts, saying they appeared to threaten the country’s sovereignty, integrity, and public order. Goud also said the content could spread hatred, misinformation, enmity, and risk national security.

In his complaint, Goud asked authorities to preserve electronic evidence from the accounts and posts, identify who runs them using legal means, and fully investigate possible violations of Indian law. He also requested that police work with Meta to get account details and digital evidence, and take action against Meta for allegedly allowing this content to remain on its platforms.

The second complaint came from S Aravind Reddy, a 29-year-old BJP supporter and businessman from Nampally. Reddy said he saw several digitally altered and AI-generated videos and images on Instagram showing the PM with people like US President Donald Trump and former Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan in what he described as an “obscene, derogatory and misleading manner.” He warned that this content could mislead the public and spread misinformation, and called for legal action against both the people who posted it and Meta’s India leadership for allowing the posts. He said that notices have been sent to Meta about the cases and the flagged links.

Police investigators are working to gather information to identify and arrest those who ran the accounts. By Thursday evening, all the reported links were inactive, but the investigation into where the content came from, how it spread, and whether Meta’s safeguards were enough is still ongoing.

These cases come after recent criticism of Meta’s content moderation in India, where automated systems temporarily removed legitimate posts.

Arun Srinivas, who became Meta’s Managing Director and Country Head for India in July 2025, is now named as a co-accused. It is rare for a senior executive at a platform to be directly targeted, rather than only anonymous users.

Complainants say Meta did not do enough to prevent or quickly remove deepfake-style and manipulated content that could harm public figures and threaten public order.

Cybercrime officials said the investigation will look at both the people who created and shared the content, and whether the platforms’ current tools for detecting AI-generated and manipulated media are effective.