In addition to news portal accounts, several Instagram pages that have criticised the Union government were also disabled in the past week.
Meta has blocked Instagram accounts of the Malayalam newspaper Deshabhimani, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and online news portal ‘No Cap’. The Instagram account of the national news portal The Wire was blocked in India for nearly two hours on Monday, February 9.
Speaking with TNM, Sajan Evugen, the Coordinating Editor for the digital edition of Deshabhimani, said that their Instagram account was disabled on February 1, the same day of the Union Government’s budget presentation. Over the past 10 days, the organisation has attempted to communicate with Meta to restore the account, but their efforts have been unsuccessful.
“We shared multiple news cards on the budget day but later that day Meta disabled our account without providing any explanation. We submitted an appeal but have not received a response,” said Sajan Evugen. He said they haven’t received any notification on community standards violation.
A report in the Deshabhimani said the action was taken due to the newspaper’s reporting and firm stance against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) policies. “Deshabhimani frequently posted content highlighting the Union government’s neglect of Kerala and its anti-people policies,” the newspaper stated, pointing out the possible reasons for the ban.
A Facebook post by No Cap, said the action against their Instagram handle was taken without any stated reason.
Ali Hyder, the executive editor of No Cap, told TNM that they initially received a suspension for a community standard violation notice from Meta without citing any specific post or content. “We sent an appeal explaining our side. But their response was permanent suspension without clearly stating any reason apart from community violence,” he said.
In recent days the account had posted news content that was critical of the RSS and related to PM Modi’s name appearing in the Epstein files. “We don’t know the reason, but the content we shared in the past few days was on Epstein files,” Ali Hyder explained.
Deshabhimani said that the Instagram account posted content opposing the Union government’s policies affecting ordinary people, criticising the neglect of Kerala, and condemning the BJP government’s submission to America and propaganda against communal harmony. “Meta’s action comes at a time when this content reached a large audience,” the Deshabhimani report said.
Following the ban, On Monday, February 9 Deshabhimani appealed for the account’s reinstatement; however, they have yet to receive any positive response from Meta. “We will continue to try to communicate with Meta, but for now, we have started a new page,” Sajan stated.
In addition to news portal accounts, several Instagram pages that have criticised the Union government were also disabled in the past week.
In a social media post, The Wire stated that they had learned informally that the ministry had asked Meta to block a 52-second satirical animation on Instagram. After the account was restored, the cartoon remained inaccessible.
(This article first appeared in The Wire.)
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