Dozens of takedown requests between February and September 2026:<\/p>\n
February:\u00a0The Wire\u2019s Instagram account temporarily blocked<\/p>\n
On 9 February, the Instagram account of Delhi-based news site\u00a0The Wire, which counts over1.3 million followers, was blocked in India for around two hours after it posted an animated cartoon critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The account was eventually restored, but the\u00a0post in question<\/a> remains inaccessible on\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0and Facebook. It was also blocked on X.<\/p>\n March: Accounts of Kashmiri media outlets and marginalised communities blocked, notably due to content on police violence<\/p>\n Meta\u00a0blocked<\/a> the Facebook and Instagram accounts of three major Kashmiri media outlets \u2013\u00a0Greater Kashmir<\/a>,\u00a0Rising Kashmir<\/a> and\u00a0Kashmir Life<\/a> (1.8 million followers on Facebook and nearly 200,000 on Instagram) \u2013 without publicly explaining the reasons for these measures.<\/p>\n The Facebook page of the news platform\u00a0Molitics<\/a>, which has more than 450,000 followers, was also\u00a0blocked<\/a>, as was a backup page created by the outlet.<\/p>\n Meta also\u00a0removed<\/a> the official Facebook page of\u00a0National Dastak<\/a>,\u00a0a media organisation that covers issues relating to Dalits (people formerly considered \u201cuntouchables\u201d in the Indian caste system), tribal communities and other marginalised groups.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Facebook page<\/a> of the digital news outlet\u00a04PM News Network<\/a> \u2014 which has nearly 1.7 million followers \u2014 was also\u00a0blocked<\/a> in India. The measure is reported to have been taken on grounds of \u201cnational security\u201d and \u201cpublic order\u201d.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the media outlet\u00a0PeekTV<\/a>\u00a0received a takedown notice regarding a video posted on X in which a student spoke about police violence during protests.<\/p>\n The South African journalist\u00a0Azad Essa<\/a>, who has extensively covered relations between India and Israel, also had his X account suspended in India on government orders.<\/p>\n To date, the Facebook pages of\u00a0Molitics India and\u00a0National Dastak, as well as Azad Essa\u2019s X account, remain inaccessible.<\/p>\n May: an environmental report blocked<\/p>\n On 22 May, Meta\u00a0blocked<\/a> an Instagram video by the\u00a0Environmental Reporting Collective in India. The video focused on Google\u2019s proposed data centre in Visakhapatnam, developed in partnership with the Adani Group. The report focused in particular on the forced displacement of local Dalit communities. It had garnered more than 2.6 million views before being blocked. The video was\u00a0restored<\/a> on 10 September after a legal intervention.<\/p>\n July: content related to student protests removed<\/p>\n In July, several pieces of content relating to student protests in New Delhi were made inaccessible in India. The freelance journalist\u00a0Sadhika Tiwari\u00a0noted that a video she had posted, showing a student in tears claiming to have been subjected to police violence,\u00a0had been blocked<\/a> on X in India and remains inaccessible. The notification displayed by the platform stated that the content had been restricted following a request from the government or law enforcement agencies, pursuant to Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act.<\/p>\n An interview conducted by the independent journalist\u00a0Yaqut Ali with a former spokesperson for the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) was also\u00a0blocked three times<\/a>\u00a0on Instagram and is still inaccessible today.<\/p>\n Two videos<\/a> covering the protests, published on 21 and 23 July by the independent media outlet\u00a0Maktoob Media,\u00a0were blocked<\/a> by Meta on Instagram.<\/p>\n The Delhi-based co-founder of\u00a0Peek TV,\u00a0Priyanshi Sharma,\u00a0stated<\/a>\u00a0on X that an interview conducted on 4 August with a protester, claiming they had received threatening comments online, has been removed from the independent media outlet\u2019s Instagram page. The video has since been\u00a0reposted<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n August: posts about victims of pellet gun in Kashmir blocked<\/p>\n In early August, Instagram blocked\u00a0several posts<\/a> in India by the news outlet\u00a0Scroll focusing on the victims of pellet gun in Kashmir. Since 2010, Indian security forces have been using pellet guns and other weapons to suppress protesters in the region. According to\u00a0Scroll, this was the fourth time its posts had been blocked since June 2026. Content from\u00a0The Wire on\u00a0the same subject<\/a>,\u00a0published on Facebook and Instagram, was also made inaccessible in India.<\/p>\n An article from\u00a0The Hindu on the victims of grenade attacks in Kashmir\u00a0was also blocked<\/a> by Meta on Instagram.<\/p>\n These three posts remain inaccessible to users in India to this day.<\/p>\n September: censorship of reports on a health crisis, a destroyed mosque and civilians killed in a protest<\/p>\n On 6 September, the Instagram accounts of three independent journalists,\u00a0Monika Singh, Bindu Gurjar\u00a0and\u00a0Lokbhadra Singh, were\u00a0suspended<\/a> following the publication of a report on a health crisis affecting an Adivasi (indigenous) community in Madhya Pradesh. The three accounts have since been reactivated.<\/p>\n Following a government request, Instagram\u00a0also blocked<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0a report by\u00a0Article 14 in India on the civilians killed during protests calling for Ladakh \u2013 now a Union Territory \u2013 to be granted state status.<\/p>\n