Kejriwal questions Meta after claiming Instagram account was restricted in India

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday alleged that Meta has restricted his Instagram account in India, saying he has been unable to get an explanation from the social media company despite repeated attempts.

In a post on X, Kejriwal tagged Meta and questioned why his account had allegedly been made unavailable in India.

“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.

He claimed that Meta’s India office had not provided any reasons for the restriction or explained how it could be removed.

“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,” Kejriwal said, calling it “pretty bad service.”

The former Delhi chief minister also shared a screenshot of his Instagram account status, which indicated that the account was “unavailable in some locations.” The screenshot showed that none of his posts had been removed, his reach remained unaffected, all Instagram features were available and monetisation had not been disabled.

Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kejriwal urged Meta not to “bow down” to the Prime Minister “so much”, adding, “Else he will allow you to run only his own account in India.”

Kejriwal’s remarks come a day after Meta apologised to the Union 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, saying the restriction of the Prime Minister’s post was an error. The government had summoned the company’s senior executives after Modi’s July 28 video message on paper leaks was unavailable on Facebook for around five hours.