Kerala High Court lets NoCap editor run the outlet's Facebook page after removing comments flagged by police

7 November 2026

Justice Ziyad Rahman A.A. of the Kerala High Court has permitted the Chief Editor of the Malayalam digital news outlet NoCap to operate its Facebook page again. The petition, Hyder Ali K. v. Union of India, is numbered WP(C) 36632/2026. The editor told the court that on 28 September the page received a notice saying its content in India was restricted under Section 79(3) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and that no blocking order was ever shown to him. The court had asked the Centre and the State whether either had told Meta Platforms to block the page. The government pleader replied that Meta had only been asked to take down certain harmful comments on some posts, not to block the page itself. The court then said the editor may run the page after deleting the comments flagged by the State Police Chief and Director General of Police or officers under him. The fifth respondent was directed to take the steps needed to restore access.