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New Delhi: On September 17, digital rights organisation Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) said that technology conglomerate Meta had restricted in India its Instagram post that dealt with the recent censorship faced by digital fact-checking outlet Alt News regarding on a story about the teaser of a film. This is only the latest in a series of restrictions affecting news organisations, journalists and political commentators on Meta’s platforms in India. But SFLC says the problem does not end with content being taken down. 

The Wire can confirm that as of September 21, the post is still unavailable in India. Instagram’s statement, on opening the link, says that it took this action in “pursuant to legal requirements under India’s Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules”.

SFLC says that following takedowns, users also face significant hurdles in challenging the decisions, particularly when restrictions are imposed through automated systems.

In the Instagram post, the SFLC had highlighted the restrictions Alt News had faced due to its reporting on the teaser of the Hindi film Chauhaan. The SFLC’s post referred to the Alt News report, in which it had documented the repeated removal of its Instagram post analysing the film’s teaser.

Alt News had uploaded three versions of the post. The first was removed because it contained visuals of pellet injuries in Kashmir. A second version, with modified visuals, was also taken down. A third version remained online after references to Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani were removed from it. Alt News also reported that searches for “Burhan Wani” on Instagram produced no results and instead displayed a warning that the terms could be associated........

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