Indian Cartoonist's Instagram Account Restricted Without Direct Notification

Cartoonist Satish Acharya's Instagram account was subjected to multiple content restrictions throughout the year, culminating in the entire account being disabled in India on September 28, 2026, without direct notification to the user, according to reporting by Indian tech publication MediaNama.

The first restriction occurred on February 28, 2026, targeting a cartoon posted in June 2025 regarding new NCERT textbooks. The notice cited "a legal request." By the time the account was fully withheld, at least eight other cartoons had also been restricted. Screenshots shared with MediaNama indicate the reasons cited included "a notice from The Government of India / Law Enforcement under Section 79(3)(b)" of the IT Act or "an automated system implemented pursuant to legal requirements." Acharya stated he received no communication from Instagram or any government agency.

The account status screens often did not specify the issuing authority. Some notices referred to "a legal request," others to a "government notice," and some to an "automated system." Acharya contrasted this with X (formerly Twitter), where he received notifications about government requests. He noted a lack of a formal complaint channel on Instagram, making legal recourse potentially unaffordable for independent creators.

MediaNama has submitted queries to Meta, the parent company of Instagram, as well as India's Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, seeking clarification on the nature of the "automated system" and the reasons for the account-level restrictions. The aim is to understand whether these actions resulted from automated filtering or direct government orders and how India's IT regulations are being applied to social media content.