AAP Chief Says His Instagram Was Limited in India, Meta Recently Apologised Over PM Modi's Facebook Post
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal has claimed that Meta has restricted access to his Instagram account in India. Kejriwal pointed out on social media that the company should not bow down to PM Narendra Modi so much.
The claim comes just a day after Meta apologised to the Indian government over the temporary restriction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Facebook post.
What did Kejriwal say?
On Thursday morning, Kejriwal said his Instagram account was being restricted and not available in some locations in India.He also described the issue as “pretty bad service."
To support his claim, Kejriwal shared a screenshot of his Instagram Account Status page. The screenshot showed that:
His account was not available in some places. No posts had been removed. His account reach was not restricted. All Instagram features were available. His account was still monetised.Based on this, Kejriwal questioned Meta's actions and criticised the company.
Dig at PM Narendra Modi
In the process, Arvind Kejriwal also took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He told Meta not to "bow down to PM Modi so much" and that the platform should remain neutral in handling users' accounts.
Meta did not immediately respond to Kejriwal's latest accusation.
Meta recently apologised to the government
Kejriwal’s comments came shortly after Meta apologised to the Indian government over a separate matter involving Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Meta's Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan met Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and apologised after Modi's Facebook video message was mistakenly restricted for around five hours.The restriction was an error, Meta said, and the company expressed regret for the incident.
Why was PM Modi's Facebook post restricted?
The Facebook post contained Prime Minister Modi's message to the youth of India and promised to take strict action against paper leaks.
In BJP MP Nishikant Dubey's opinion, the post was not available on Facebook between 12:30 am and 5:30 am, and the government was forced to seek an explanation from Meta.The company admitted the mistake and apologised.
Arvind Kejriwal has claimed that Meta has restricted his Instagram account in India and questioned the company’s actions. He is making such claims at a time when Meta is already under fire for mistakenly restricting Narendra Modi’s Facebook post.
It remains to be seen whether Meta issues an official response to Kejriwal's allegations or explains why his Instagram account is not working in some locations.