E-Paper
Congress claims Rahul Gandhi’s Instagram post briefly restricted, MeitY denies role
Gandhi had posted a video and a series of photos on his Instagram handle on Sunday after Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay’s swearing-in ceremony.
The Congress on Sunday alleged that the Centre had blocked Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s Instagram posts featuring Tamil Nadu chief minister (CM) C Joseph Vijay’s swearing-in ceremony, after some users were shown a notice citing India’s IT Rules when trying to access the content. However, the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) denied restricting Gandhi’s posts.
Gandhi had posted a video and a series of photos on his Instagram handle on Sunday after Vijay’s swearing-in ceremony, at which he was present. After the reel was allegedly blocked, several Congress leaders took to social media to question the restriction and alleged that the government blocked the posts under the IT Rules.
Congress leaders later shared screenshots on X showing Instagram’s notice explaining the restriction: “We restricted access to this content through an automated system implemented pursuant to legal requirements under India’s Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021.”
An official at MeitY clarified, “It has been wrongly claimed by certain social media handles that certain posts of LoP were restricted by MeitY. It is clarified that MeitY had nothing to do with this action. It was because of the platform’s own internal system mistakenly flagging the post for blocking, which are now restored.”
Congress leader YB Srivatsa said in a post on X that the reel had gathered 12 million views in less than an hour and the viral pics post had already reached 46 million people. He added, “Meta cites no reason as to why his account has become inaccessible. The ‘glitch’ is because of MEITY rules!” he said.
Gandhi later reposted the content on Instagram and questioned why the government had blocked the reel under the IT Rules. AICC Secretary (Communications and Media) Ruchira Chaturvedia also questioned on X what was wrong with the video posted by Gandhi.
HT reached out to Meta but did not receive a response.
Srivatsa further alleged: “Rahul Gandhi’s social media accounts have been suppressed for a long time. His X reach, YouTube views, Insta followers have all been suppressed. This is how India’s opposition leaders voice is curtailed.”
