Meta India head named in police case over Modi-targeting Facebook videos

Hyderabad police registered a case against Meta India head Arun Srinivas over Facebook videos that depicted Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an "abusive manner," putting a senior local executive at the center of a political dispute with one of the world’s biggest social media companies.

The case is being handled by Hyderabad Cyber Crime Police in Telangana. Police filed two cases tied to the posts, and the complaints also named several social media users. The content was described as AI-generated or morphed, and some of it also circulated on Instagram, extending the dispute beyond Facebook alone.

The move followed pressure from India’s IT ministry, which summoned Meta executives after Facebook briefly restricted a Modi post the previous week. Police were also preparing to send a notice to Meta Platforms, but had not issued it by Friday. Together, the steps show how quickly content moderation issues can spill into direct law-enforcement action when posts touch a sitting prime minister.

The videos were linked to protests over the NEET-UG paper leak and student demonstrations associated with the Cockroach Janta Party at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. That political backdrop appears to have sharpened the official response, turning what might otherwise have been treated as online criticism into a criminal case.

For Meta, the timing is sensitive. India is one of the company’s largest markets for Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, and Srinivas was appointed India head on June 16, 2025. A police case against the country chief raises the legal and operating risks for U.S. tech firms in major democracies where moderation decisions, political speech and ruling-party sensitivities collide.