E-Paper
Kejriwal claims Instagram account restricted in India, tells Meta to not 'bow down to PM Modi so much'
Arvind Kejriwal told Meta that lack of responses and clarification from their end amounted to “pretty bad service”.
Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal alleged on Thursday morning that Meta has “restricted” his Instagram account and claimed that it was unavailable in India.
He added that he has reached out to the Meta team but has not received any response on why the account was restricted and how to remove those restrictions.
Tagging Meta in a post on X, Kejriwal wrote, “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?”
“Noone in your office is giving any reasons. Noone is suggesting how restrictions can be removed. All emails written have elicited no response other than routine acknowledgement,” he added.
Kejriwal added that it was “pretty bad service”.
He also shared a screenshot of his Instagram 'account status', revealing that his account was “unavailable in some locations”, while none of his content was removed, his reach was not limited, he was open to use all features of Instagram and his account was monetised as well.
The former Delhi chief minister after took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said asked the social media giant to not “bow down” to him “so much”.
“Else he will allow u to run only his own account in India,” he said.
Meta's ‘apology’ over PM Modi's video
Kejriwal's claim comes a day after a senior global executive at Meta met Indian officials on Wednesday and apologised for a video message by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Facebook being taken down for five hours, according to a statement by the company that owns the social media website.
Also read: 'Error restricting PM Modi's post': What top Meta executive said in apology
“I apologised to the minister on behalf of Meta for error restricting PM Modi’s post,” said Meta's chief global officer Joel Kaplan, according to a statement by the tech giant.
Kaplan tendered the apology to Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union minister for electronics and IT, Hindustan Times reporter earlier.
The Union government had summoned Meta's top global executives after a Facebook post by Modi, addressed to the youth of India on July 28, where he promised stringent action against paper leaks, was briefly restricted on the platform.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who heads the parliamentary committee on IT, had said the post was unavailable between 12.30 am and 5.30 am.
