As of today, Instagram restricted access to four of our posts in India under Section 79(3) (b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, in response to a notice from the ‘Government of India/ Law Enforcement’ based on ‘local laws’. Three on 22nd of August, and another, recently, on 27th August. The unilateral decision to indefinitely ‘restrict access’ to our content, without an explanation for the block or an(y) opportunity to be heard, here, is condemnable on two grounds- the dystopian control of the State over what will remain ‘visible’ on social media platforms and the non-transparent censorship of digital voices of dissent.
The Meta x State of Andhra Pradesh notified that the content posted on July 14, 18, and 19 contains unlawful content. We reject the claim and question the grounds on which mere documentation of peaceful gatherings in opposition to land-water-energy extractivism in relation to the setting up of hyperscale data centers in Visakhapatnam is classified as unlawful conduct, in three separate instances; and a video, posted on August 11, showing an ongoing destruction of Simhachalam hill to set up a Google-Adani data center of 512 MW capacity. Alarmingly, this is not an isolated incident as posts documenting resource extractivism, seeking transparency, and opposing data centers were restricted by Instagram; reflecting the broader political environment of stiffling voices of dissent in the digital and general fronts.
The recently reported evidence of the takedown of 1.95 lakh posts between March-July (2026) as a result of the combination of amendments to IT rules and the automated enforcement of censorship through the Sahyog portal rightfully raises alarm bells in the realm of a citizen's digital expression of dissent and the State’s blatant abuse of power. We hereby publicly take this opportunity to ask- should your discomfort with our opposition to data centers be grounds enough to censor our posts, overriding our fundamental right to speech (/post)? Should it, at all, circumvent the procedural discipline by putting in place outright censorship, replacing the window for a(ny) dialogue? This also crucially comes at a time when the Chief Minister and the Minister of Information Technology, Electronics and Communications of Andhra Pradesh are actively fabricating misinformation about resource requirements and speculative ‘prospects’ for the hyperscale data centers; in addition to detaining protesters and denying permission to gather for protest.
We strongly condemn the undemocratic and cowardly acts of censorship through suffocation of spaces of public participation. We also reiterate that we stand firm in our opposition against hyperscale data centers and demand they be halted immediately.