Instagram restricts cartoonist Satish Acharya’s account in India

Instagram has restricted access to the account of Indian political cartoonist Satish Acharya within India following a legal request from the government. The platform stated the restriction was made pursuant to legal requirements under India’s Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, after conducting a legal and human rights assessment.

The restriction follows Acharya’s recent cartoons regarding the Election Commission and its decisions concerning the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. This comes amid reports that two Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, had formally objected to certain decisions made without their knowledge.

Acharya criticized the move, describing the central government as a ‘block sarkar’ and noting that some of his cartoons from 2023 are also being blocked. The Kerala Cartoon Academy has expressed solidarity with Acharya, calling for the revocation of the ban. This incident follows reports of a significant increase in government orders to Meta-owned platforms to remove online content in India.