Sumant

Statement: Instagram censors a cartoon about censorship. IFF will challenge it. A cartoon on comedy, copyright and the IT Rules has been withheld in India by an automated system that cites no order and gives no reasons. On 27 October 2026, Instagram withheld in India a cartoon by Aadvik (@aaaaadvik ) who first published on 29 September 2026 as a collaborative post on the accounts of IFF, Aadvik and stand-up comedian Pulkit Mani. It shows a panicked man at a console in the image and style of the Prime Minister with red buttons marked "Censor", "Copyright" and "IT Rules", while a comic performs on a screen above him. Its caption reads, "Quick, check if comedy counts as a violation of copyright or a matter of national security." The post asked who decides what gets taken down, and on what grounds. Instagram has now answered this literally by taking it down after close to a month. Its notice says access was restricted "through an automated system implemented pursuant to legal requirements" under the IT Rules, 2021. It names no order, authority, provision or ground. There was no prior notice and no chance to respond. The same cartoon remains available on IFF's X account. The post also carried an update on Pulkit Mani v. Meta Platforms Inc. & Ors., his Delhi High Court suit over fraudulent copyright strikes on his Instagram page, in which IFF appears for him pro bono. Meta, a defendant in that suit, has now hidden a post about it from Indian users in which it is the principal defendant. In 1945, George Orwell wrote a preface to Animal Farm, a book four publishers had turned down. He noted, "the sinister fact about literary censorship in England," he observed, "is that it is largely voluntary." Unpopular ideas, he argued, could be silenced without any official ban, by institutions that guess what power wants and act first. The preface itself stayed unpublished until 1972 and in Nineteen Eighty-Four he gave this habit a machine, namely, the memory hole, a slot at the Ministry of Truth into which inconvenient records vanished, unexplained and beyond appeal. Today, the Ministry of Electronics and IT acts as this Ministry of Truth that covers up its gross incompetence in securing our cyber security by building an architecture of digital censorship that is implemented by technology platforms. It is under these IT Rules, 2021 that Instagram's "automated system" exists as a memory hole. It has swallowed a cartoon whose whole joke is a man reaching for the censor button without asking what comedy is. The absurdity Aadvik drew has now been actually demonstrated in stark reality. This machine did not build itself and in April 2026, The Hindu reported that Meta automatically restricts content flagged by government and police in India, and wants a fresh government direction before restoring anything later found lawful. MeitY's unpublished advisories of 8 and 10 October 2026 pressed platforms, and Meta by name, for "enhanced diligence". The same notice has been served on cartoonist Satish Acharya, who lost nine cartoons and then his account, on journalists covering the October protests, and days ago on comedian Kajol Srinivasan. The Union Government applies the pressure and Meta has chosen to answer it with a system that censors first and explains nothing. IFF will soon challenge Meta's automated restriction system in an appropriate legal proceeding. A joke is not a threat to the nation, and we will not let Meta’s algorithms decide otherwise. Our demands 1) Meta must restore the post in India, and tell IFF, Aadvik and Pulkit Mani which order, authority and provision it relied on, if any. 2) Meta must suspend the automated restriction of content in India and disclose the inputs on which its "automated system" acts. 3) MeitY must state whether any direction, Sahyog Portal intimation or advisory concerned this cartoon, and withdraw and publish its advisories of 8 and 10 October 2026. 4) The Union Government must restrict content only by reasoned, published orders under Section 69A or by intimations that comply with Rule 3(1)(d), and never by leaning on platforms. Speak up A memory hole works only as long as people accept it in silence. If you are a cartoonist, comic, creator or journalist whose post or account has been withheld with this notice, write to us at [email protected] with screenshots of every notice and we will try our best to provide you help pro-bono. Over the past 72 hours we have assisted close to 56 social media users, some of whom had their accounts restored. We are in this together!