India Issues 195,000 Content Orders as Cartoonist's Account Goes Dark

Government agencies sent nearly 195,000 content-restriction and blocking orders to social media platforms between March and July, according to figures obtained through a right-to-information request and reported by The Indian Express. The orders went to platforms including Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube through the federal government's Sahyog portal. The data does not show how many posts were ultimately removed or restricted.

Indian cartoonist Satish Acharya, 55, discovered on Tuesday that his Instagram account had been blocked in India for the second time in three weeks. His profile was first restricted from 28 September to 6 October. During that period, users in India could not find his profile through search or open it through a web link; visitors saw a message saying the account was unavailable under India's Information Technology Rules, which allow authorities and courts to order platforms to remove or restrict content. Acharya wrote to Meta and received no reply. He said he was preparing to go to court when the account became accessible again in early October, then blocked again for three days earlier this week.

The restrictions follow other limits on satire in India. Manjul, another cartoonist, found that Instagram had restricted a post criticising India's election commission over its revision of voter rolls, which removed 130 million names. Meta told the BBC it may temporarily restrict accounts to comply with India's IT Rules but did not explain the specific reasons behind Acharya's account block or Manjul's post restriction. Technology policy expert Prateek Waghre says the government is increasingly using legal orders to regulate online content, and says some platforms, particularly Meta, "seem more willing to comply," while X appears more willing to push back. Limited public data makes comparisons difficult, and Meta declined to comment on his assessment.

Online debate over the voter-roll revision intensified this year. Memes and Gen-Z humour also helped fuel protests over education and jobs in July, which led to the resignation of India's education minister. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party has urged ministers to strengthen their online presence and connect with younger audiences.

Acharya says his cartoons before 2014 targeted the Congress-led government and were shared by BJP leaders. "I never faced official restrictions on my cartoons during the previous governments, though there would be some trolling occasionally," he says. With the BJP in power, much of his satire now addresses Modi's government.

Social media has let independent cartoonists reach audiences without newspaper backing. "We are not associated with newspapers or any mainstream media. That's why we can draw," Manjul says. Rachita Taneja, creator of the Instagram comic Sanitary Panels, says her career depends on the internet but calls social media a double-edged sword: "At the end of the day it's a for-profit endeavour that answers to advertisers." When Acharya's account was first restricted, Taneja drew a stick-figure cartoon in solidarity.

Sandheep Adhwaryu, a cartoonist at a leading Indian newspaper, says artists may soften captions or avoid certain subjects, and that over time such self-censorship can become normalised even without explicit instructions. "The nature of the craft is to oppose," he says, comparing cartoons and humour to a "shape-shifting virus." "It keeps mutating in response to its environment. It will find its way."