Meta restricts digital rights group’s Instagram post on Alt News takedowns

New Delhi: Meta-owned Instagram has restricted in India a post by digital rights organisation Software Freedom Law Centre (SFLC) discussing the removal of several posts by fact-checking platform Alt News, according to the organisation.

SFLC said Instagram informed it that the restriction was imposed in compliance with the Union government’s Information Technology Rules. The organisation said the post had referred to an Alt News fact-check concerning a Bollywood film teaser and its reference to Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani.

The digital rights group said the action highlighted the lack of transparency in content moderation on social media platforms. It added that Meta had not explained the specific basis for the restriction or provided details about the process for challenging it.

The dispute follows a series of content removals involving Alt News. In July, Instagram removed an Alt News post analysing the teaser of the film Chauhaan. The fact-check questioned the teaser’s description of pellet-gun injuries suffered by Kashmiris as causing “limited damage”.

The original post, uploaded on July 1, contained images showing pellet-related injuries. After Instagram removed it, Alt News altered the visuals and uploaded a revised version. That post was also taken down.

A third version remained available only after references to Burhan Wani were removed, according to the fact-checking outlet.

Alt News had cited data showing that more than 6,000 people were injured by pellet guns in Kashmir between July 8, 2016, and February 27, 2017. Of them, 728 suffered pellet injuries to their eyes, while at least 54 people experienced vision impairment.

Another Alt News post examining claims about armed Nihangs clashing with police and breaking through barricades during youth protests in Delhi was removed from both Instagram and Facebook, which is also owned by Meta.

SFLC said the takedowns demonstrated how platform-based censorship could influence editorial decisions even in the absence of a publicly disclosed government order.

“If journalists know that certain subjects, images, words, or forms of reporting may trigger restrictions, they may begin self-censoring and altering their content before publication,” the organisation said in a social media post.

It argued that unclear moderation practices made it difficult for users to determine whether content had been removed under a legitimate policy or through arbitrary decision-making.

Instagram has also restricted four posts published by digital news organisation Scroll since June, citing “legal requirements”, according to the report.

One of the posts, blocked on August 6, referred to a Scroll report on pellet-gun victims in Kashmir who were still awaiting compensation years after sustaining injuries. A second post, published later the same day with an image that did not show pellet injuries, was also restricted. Instagram did not provide a specific explanation for either action.

On July 5, Instagram initially restricted a Scroll post linked to an article about Bollywood’s use of Kashmir’s troubled history to produce content described as xenophobic. The post contained a screenshot from the Chauhaan teaser showing pellet injuries.

A separate post on the same subject featuring a photograph of Srinagar’s Lal Chowk was not restricted and remains available on Instagram.

Neither Meta nor Instagram has publicly provided detailed explanations for the restrictions cited by SFLC and Scroll.