HC verdict in favour of ‘No Cap’ a blow to Keralam UDF govt.’s undeclared censorship of news portals: Pinarayi Vijayan

The Kerala High Court verdict in favour of the digital media outlet ‘No Cap’ is a major blow to the United Democratic Front (UDF) government’s undeclared censorship that seeks to shackle independent journalism and freedom of expression, Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan has said.

It is a mere delusion on the part of the UDF government to believe that they can suppress criticism and popular protests through the use of state power, Mr. Vijayan said in a statement here on Thursday.

‘Exposes lie’

“This development exposes yet another lie by Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan. It reveals his true colors, especially considering his earlier sarcastic retort whether he was such a ‘big deal’ that he could get posts critical of him removed from Facebook. While he mockingly claimed he would ‘generously’ write to Meta on behalf of journalists, he was, in reality, issuing secret directives to the police and administrative machinery to permanently shut down pages that dared to criticise the government,” alleged Mr. Vijayan.

He said that the High Court verdict on Wednesday also confirms that it was the government itself that requested Meta to completely block the Facebook page of the Kerala Independent Farmers Association (KIFA).

‘Dictatorial tactics’

“Keralam will not tolerate such dictatorial tactics, which aim to silence critics in order to conceal the failures of the administration. Strong popular resistance must emerge against such crackdowns on the media and instances of cyber censorship, which are reminiscent of the Emergency. No one should assume that the right to dissent in a democracy can be countered through a police raj,” he said.

Early in October, Facebook had blocked the page of independent Malayalam digital media outlet No Cap. Back in August, the Opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) had accused the UDF government of clamping down an “undeclared social media emergency” by allegedly removing several posts as well as news reports related to the arrest of Youth Congress leaders on synthetic drug peddling charges. Mr. Satheesan had repeatedly denied making any request to Meta to take down the posts.

Published - November 12, 2026 08:44 pm IST