Meta has restricted access in India to a viral AI-generated video showing Kerala Chief Minister V D Satheesan dancing with Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) officials amid the recent power crisis, the video's creators said on Monday, reported PTI.
The video, posted on the Instagram page 'aikavala' on Thursday, had garnered 1.78 crore views by Sunday, according to the page's operator.
Satheesan had recently referred to the video at an event organised by the Kerala High Court, saying he was excited to see it. He also claimed he could dance better than Malayalam actor Mohanlal and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay.
The video, which was created using artificial intelligence, shows Satheesan dancing alongside KSEB officials, according to its creators.
According to PTI's report, in a post on Sunday, 'aikavala' said access to the video had been restricted in India after Meta complied with a legal request.
"We have restricted access to your content in India pursuant to notice from the Government of India," a message from Meta shared by the creators said.
Abhijith, who runs the Instagram page, told reporters that he did not believe the restriction was prompted by any objection from the chief minister's office.
"We don't know the reason. But the CM had appreciated it in a public forum. The video can be viewed from other countries," he said.
"The CM really enjoyed it. So I don't think it came from his side. But there might be some cyber wings who might have initiated the steps," Abhijith said.
He added that a disclaimer had been included with the video, which he said was why it had not been removed completely.
Asked whether his team planned to challenge the restriction, Abhijith said no decision had been taken yet.
"People everywhere have embraced it. We view that widespread acceptance itself as a major achievement," he said.
Satheesan referred to the video and his earlier remarks again on Monday while speaking after inaugurating the graduation ceremony of the 2026 graduating batch of Thiruvananthapuram Government Law College.
"I was shocked seeing the dance. I saw myself leading a group dance. I said that the splendid dance was enough to shock both Mohanlal and my friend, Vijay," he said.
Although the video was partly intended to mock him, Satheesan said he was happy about it.
"A five-year-old child came up to me and said, 'Sir, your dance was splendid!' So that child believed I had actually danced," he said.
"Artificial intelligence is creating many such things nowadays. There will be legal issues there. When they imitate many things like this, legal implications are bound to arise," he said.
The latest development comes against the backdrop of an earlier dispute between Meta and the Kerala government over the removal of news videos critical of the state government and Satheesan.
Satheesan had denied that his office had sought the removal of the posts. The Chief Minister's Office subsequently wrote to Meta seeking their reinstatement.
Meta had then attributed the removal of the videos to "technical reasons".
(With inputs from PTI)
