Over the past few weeks, journalists, independent creators, news organisations, activists and Opposition politicians have been reporting a growing number of Instagram accounts being restricted in India or posts being arbitrarily taken down \u2014 many of them concerning the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) movement, the brutal police crackdown that followed, or simply content critical of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government or its policies.<\/p>\n
While the police arrested and detained protesters across cities, the government has simultaneously been taking down content on Instagram through notices that may have been issued under Section 79(3)(b) or Section 69A of the Information Technology (IT) Act. Yes, may have been, because there is no clarity to the entire mechanism whatsoever.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The timing of this state-sanctioned censorship frenzy is particularly alarming. It comes in the immediate aftermath of the CJP protests, a youth-led movement whose reach and mobilisation were powered overwhelmingly by the digital ecosystem, particularly Instagram. The platform played a pivotal role in transforming CJP from a satire page into a nationwide movement that forced the government to concede to some of its core demands.<\/p>\n
Born as a reaction to a snide remark made by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, CJP found its nucleus in the social media spaces occupied by young people. The group created its Instagram page in early May, posting reels, memes and explainers and rapidly amassing a following that surpassed that of every major political party in India. With 26.5 million followers as of today, CJP demonstrated how online engagement could be converted into massive street mobilisation across the country.<\/p>\n
From the 36-day sit-in and hunger strike by Sonam Wangchuk and protesting students, to the Jantar Mantar \u2018Sansad Chalo\u2019 march on July 20 and solidarity protests across cities, Instagram was the primary platform through which participants and the wider public received and disseminated information. It enabled volunteers, creators and ordinary users to amplify protest calls, coordinate demonstrations and broadcast events in real time.<\/p>\n
Instagram, owned by Meta, was therefore not merely a digital record of the movement; it was one of the principal engines of it. The scale of the street mobilisation, catalysed by the platform, eventually forced the government to concede to several of CJP\u2019s core demands, including former education minister Dharmendra Pradhan\u2019s resignation, compensation for families of students who died by suicide, and several reformative measures announced by the government.<\/p>\n
It is against this backdrop that the timing of the current censorship becomes especially significant. A platform that proved capable of turning youth discontent into one of the country\u2019s largest grassroots movements is now at the centre of an opaque censorship drive, raising questions about what and who the state is seeking to silence.<\/p>\n
This digital upheaval also managed to create an unprecedented anti-establishment wave, which not only led to the resignation of a cabinet minister for the first time in BJP\u2019s 12-year rule but also compelled Prime Minister Narendra Modi to create Instagram reels responding to the growing discontentment towards his governance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 75-year-old PM, who has not held a single press conference in 12 years, made five consecutive reels wherein he directly addressed the youth protesters \u2014 referring to them as \u2018friends\u2019 as opposed to his usual \u2018Mitron\u2019. A marked departure from BJP\u2019s traditionally scripted social media communication, in his candidly-shot selfie videos, Modi assured the disgruntled Gen-Zs who steered the protest, that his government is committed to taking action against the paper leaks and is actively taking measures to resolve their grievances.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The entire censorship drive is playing out concurrently with tensions deepening between Meta and the BJP government, with many suspecting that the rise in censorship of anti-government content on Instagram is a result of the former succumbing to pressure.<\/p>\n
The tech giant drew the government\u2019s ire after it claimed to have erroneously removed Modi\u2019s July 23 post addressing the protesting students from Facebook.\u00a0Although the video was quickly restored, a parliamentary standing committee gave a three-day ultimatum to CEO Mark Zuckerberg to issue an apology while threatening to revoke the platform\u2019s safe harbour immunity in India. This led to Meta\u2019s chief global affairs officer Joel Kaplan reportedly flying in from the United States, meeting Union minister Ashwini Vaishnav and apologising on behalf of the company on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
However, Modi\u2019s \u2018friendly assurances\u2019 did not keep\u00a0the government from suppressing dissenting voices on Instagram. On August 6, Thursday, CJP spokesperson Saurav Das shared screenshots on X of his Instagram posts being taken down, calling it a \u201cblanket ban on protest and Modi related content\u201d. The two posts, uploaded on June 12 and 18, were about Das\u2019 arrival in Bengaluru for a peaceful protest and CJP securing police clearance for the July 20 protest in Delhi, respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Turns out my content on Instagram too was restricted in India. What is this blanket ban on protest related and Modi related content? It is unconstitutional and illegal. It is absolutely ridiculous.<\/p>\n
We appeal to @Meta to not succumb to such high-handed pressure from the\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/GxjQ70kx9q<\/p>\n
\u2014 Saurav Das (@SauravDassss) August 6, 2026<\/p>\n