Journo Mirror, Molitics India Instagram accounts blocked in India under IT Rules

Instagram accounts of independent digital news outlets Journo Mirror and Molitics India have been restricted in India, with both citing legal requirements under the country’s Information Technology Rules.

Journo Mirror’s account became inaccessible three days after Molitics India reported a similar restriction.

Journo Mirror said its account had around five lakh followers and recorded 37.8 million views in the preceding 30 days.

The outlet has been covering protests demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Its co-founder and editor Mohammad Ali told Maktoob that neither Instagram nor Meta had communicated the reason for the restriction.

“We are still trying to figure out how and why it happened, but we are very sure that our reporting on the recent protests demanding the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar could be one of the reasons,” Ali said.

Molitics India director and editor-in-chief Neeraj Jha told Maktoob that its Instagram account was taken down without warning. The outlet plans to challenge the restriction in the Delhi High Court. Jha said its earlier Facebook ban followed a complaint from Maharashtra.

Separately, Molitics reporter Amaan Rastogi has filed a contempt petition in the Supreme Court alleging that Delhi Police violated the court’s October 11 order protecting journalists from interference while performing their duties.

The petition alleges Rastogi was detained twice while covering protests in Delhi despite displaying press identification. Police prevented the reporter from recording and returned their phone damaged after confiscating it for around three hours.