Archive · 29 Sep 2026
India Restricts Political Cartoonist Satish Acharya’s Instagram Account
Satish Acharya is a political cartoonist whose Instagram account was restricted in India.
Instagram said the Indian government sent it a legal request.
The company said it reviewed the request and restricted the account because of local law.
It did not specify in the article which cartoon or post caused the restriction.
Acharya criticized the government and said it seemed afraid of cartoons.
He also shared an older statement by Narendra Modi praising cartoons.
Some of Acharya’s recent cartoons discussed disagreements among election commissioners about changing voter lists.
The restriction happened while reports were describing a large increase in government requests to remove online content.
Meta’s system can automatically remove content flagged through the government’s Sahyog portal.
Instagram restricted Satish Acharya’s account in India after receiving a legal request from the government.
The platform said it conducted policy, legal and human-rights reviews before limiting access under local law.
Acharya criticized the action, saying the government appeared unusually afraid of cartoons and calling it a “block sarkar.”
The restriction followed Acharya’s cartoons about disagreements among election commissioners over electoral-roll revisions.
The action came amid reports of nearly 200,000 government takedown orders to Instagram, Facebook and YouTube between March and July.
- Who
- Political cartoonist Satish Acharya, Instagram, Meta and the Indian government.
- What
- Instagram restricted Acharya’s account in India following a government legal request.
- When
- The restriction was reported on Monday, with Acharya’s cited post dated September 28, 2026; the exact restriction date is not specified.
- Where
- India, on Instagram.
- Why
- Instagram said the content was restricted because access would violate local law after a government request; the specific legal basis and content are not identified.
Government and Platform Compliance
Cartoonist and Expression Concerns
Restriction of the account
Government and Platform Compliance
Instagram said it reviewed the government’s legal request under its policies and conducted legal and human-rights assessments before restricting access where the content allegedly violated local law.
Cartoonist and Expression Concerns
Acharya criticized the action, saying he had never seen a government so afraid of cartoons and describing the National Democratic Alliance government as “block sarkar.”
Use of government takedown powers
Government and Platform Compliance
The 2021 Information Technology Rules require platforms to remove unlawful content within three hours of receiving directions from the government or a court.
Cartoonist and Expression Concerns
The reported scale of government requests and the automatic removal process raise concerns, reflected in Acharya’s criticism, about restrictions on political and satirical expression.
- Affected account
- Political cartoonist Satish Acharya’s Instagram account
- Platform owner
- Meta owns Instagram and Facebook
- Legal framework
- The 2021 Information Technology Rules
- Removal requirement
- Platforms must remove unlawful content within three hours of government or court directions
- Reported government orders
- Nearly 200,000 orders were issued to Instagram, Facebook and YouTube between March and July
- Platform breakdown
- Instagram received nearly 100,000 orders, Facebook about 80,000 and YouTube about 15,000
- Compliance system
- Meta’s Application Programming Interface is integrated with the government’s Sahyog portal, enabling automatic removal without separate human review