New Delhi: In mid-March 2026, a 60-second video by comedian Pulkit Mani achieved what most digital marketers and creators only dream of; 16 million views in under 48 hours. The reel, a satirical take on the Prime Minister’s mannerisms during foreign summits, was a masterclass in observational comedy. By the 72nd hour, however, the video had vanished. 

It wasn’t a platform glitch or a copyright strike. It was the ‘180-minute takedown order’ issued under the newly-notified Information Technology (Amendment) Rules, 2026. The speed of the erasure was chilling. Under the 2026 rules, social media platforms now have a mere three hours to comply with government directives or risk losing their “safe harbour” status.

The February 2026 amendments to the IT Rules introduced a compliance window for any content the government deems “synthetically generated” or “prejudicial to public order.” While the government justifies these rules as a defence against deepfakes, the reality on the ground tells a different story.

The viral video that vanished 

“When I got a notification from Instagram – ‘Your reel has been banned in India’, I was shocked, I knew it was trending beyond measure on Twitter (X), people were sharing it as political content. But, I just wanted to make funny content, it wasn’t meant to strike political chords and people were already sharing memes about how PM Modi’s mannerisms are, when he meets foreign dignitaries, his expressions, his laughter. I portrayed it as a character, because I genuinely found it worth making content” Pulkit Mani, a standup comedian, told The Wire.

“Leftists praised me, Right wing began labelling me as ‘terrorist’ and many began warning me that this video would be deleted soon off social media. When my reel was banned, it did worry me. I am a Hindi content creator, I produce content for consumption in India, if they can ban a reel, they could even ban my account. I could lose all my work. Since the episode, I barely make political character oriented reels now,” Mani added.

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“Standup comedians now clearly know that there are certain things, topics, issues we cannot make content on – because they (right-wing mobs) will vandalise venues, beat us up, put us behind bars. Believe me, comedians are heavily engaging in self-censorship, such is the climate. We want to make people laugh, but we don’t know when the same people might come and assault us,” he explained.

Mani also talked about how this self-censorship, which comics were practicing in the offline world, especially after what happened with comedians like Munawar Farooqui, Kunal Kamra and Yash Rathi, had now also extended to the online space. 

“They now attack the online world, they have instilled fear in us,” he said. “We never know when any of our reels can offend people and that may then lead to suspension of accounts. We are dealing with a difficult reality. Comics are considering moving away from political satire because of the harm that can come through it.”

“Comedy in India is being highly conditioned. That is the long term and the short term goal. We are being........

© The Wire