- Kejriwal alleged Instagram account restricted, blaming Meta, government pressure.
- However, his accounts remained fully accessible to users in India.
- Meta offered no explanation for the alleged restriction to Kejriwal.
- Kejriwal linked the alleged restriction to Prime Minister Modi.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday alleged that his Instagram account had been restricted within India and accused Meta of failing to explain the reason behind the purported action. The former Delhi Chief Minister also targeted the social media giant, suggesting it was yielding to pressure from the Central government.
However, at the time of publication, both Kejriwal’s Instagram and Facebook accounts were accessible to users in India. A screenshot shared by the AAP leader showed his Instagram account status displaying the message “unavailable in some locations.”
Kejriwal Questions Meta Over Alleged Restriction
Taking to X, Kejriwal directly questioned Meta over the reported limitation on his Instagram account.
“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?” Kejriwal wrote.
He further claimed that Meta’s India office was unable to provide any explanation for the alleged restriction or clarify how the issue could be resolved.
According to Kejriwal, repeated emails sent to the company resulted only in automated acknowledgements without any substantive response. Describing the company’s handling of the matter, he said it amounted to “pretty bad service.”
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AAP Chief Targets PM Modi
Escalating his criticism, Kejriwal linked the alleged restriction to the Narendra Modi government and accused Meta of being overly deferential to the Prime Minister.
“Don’t bow down to our Prime Minister so much. Else he will allow you to run only his own account in India,” he said.
Repeating the allegation in his social media post, Kejriwal urged the company not to “bow down” to Modi “so much,” adding, “Else he will allow u to run only his own account in India.”
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Screenshot Shows Account Still Functional
Despite Kejriwal’s allegations, the screenshot he shared appeared to indicate that his Instagram account remained largely unaffected in several respects. It showed that no content had been removed, his reach had not been restricted, all account features remained available and monetisation was still active. The only visible message stated that the account was “unavailable in some locations.”
At the time this report was published, users in India were able to access both Kejriwal’s Instagram and Facebook accounts without apparent difficulty.
Meta has not publicly responded to Kejriwal’s allegations. The controversy comes a day after the company apologised for briefly restricting a Facebook video posted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer, Joel Kaplan, had described that incident as an internal error, with the company subsequently restoring access to the content.
