Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday alleged that Meta had restricted his Instagram account in India, claiming that users in the country were unable to access his profile. He also criticised the social media giant for not providing any explanation despite repeated attempts to contact the company.
Sharing his concerns on X, Kejriwal tagged Meta and questioned the reason behind the alleged restriction.
“Why have you restricted my account? Verbal enquiries at your India office revealed that my account has been restricted in India and is unavailable in India. Why?” he wrote.
The former Delhi Chief Minister further claimed that neither Meta’s India office nor its email support had provided a clear response regarding the alleged restriction.
“No one in your office is giving any reasons. No one is suggesting how restrictions can be removed. All emails written have elicited no response other than routine acknowledgement,” he said, calling it “pretty bad service.”
Screenshot Shows Account Status
Kejriwal also shared a screenshot of his Instagram Account Status, which indicated that his account was “unavailable in some locations.”
The screenshot, however, also showed:
- No content had been removed.
- The account’s reach was not limited.
- All Instagram features remained available.
- Monetisation was still active.
Kejriwal Takes Swipe At PM Modi
Referring to the recent controversy involving Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Facebook post, Kejriwal also took a political dig at the Centre.
“Don’t bow down to PM Modi so much. Else he will allow you to run only his own account in India,” he posted on X.
Comes A Day After Meta’s Apology
Kejriwal’s allegation comes a day after Meta apologised to the Indian government over the temporary restriction of a Facebook video posted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan apologised to Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, stating that restricting the Prime Minister’s post was an error.
The government had summoned senior Meta executives after PM Modi’s Facebook reel, in which he addressed India’s youth and spoke about action against paper leaks, was briefly unavailable on the platform.
Meta Yet To Respond
At the time of publishing, Meta had not publicly responded to Kejriwal’s allegations or clarified whether his Instagram account had been restricted in India.
