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Updated – August 16, 2026 11:15 am IST – NEW DELHI
Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) spokesperson Saurav Das addresses the gathering during a protest.
| Photo Credit: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
Posts by political leaders, parties, Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) members, and ordinary protestors have started disappearing from Instagram at a rapid pace, following tense meetings between the company’s leadership and the Union government. The Indian Youth Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal, CJP spokesperson Saurav Das, and the news portal Scroll.in are among those whose posts have been blocked in India.
Instagram’s parent company, Meta, has been pressed in meetings about its recommendation algorithm, as the government zeroes in on the amplification of anti-establishment social media content as a factor leading up to last month’s youth protests, which concluded with the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan from the Cabinet. Screenshots of posts blocked in India referred to the IT Rules, 2021, indicating that the posts are being censored through a takedown mechanism.
While numerous reels — short video clips on Instagram — remain available on Meta’s platform, many have been removed, including some which have been watched millions of times. Numerous X users have reported that the protest-related content that remains on Instagram is now appearing less frequently.