Digipub, PCI Demand Answers Over The Wire Instagram Block, Satirical Clip Takedown
New Delhi: The DIGIPUB News India Foundation and Press Club of India (PCI) have raised alarm over recent actions against independent news platforms such as The Wire, warning that they signal a growing pattern of censorship and erosion of free expression. The press bodies have demanded answers from the authorities and companies over the arbitrary blocking of media accounts and content takedowns without any legal basis.
"Freedom of speech, guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the constitution, is foundational to India’s democracy. Satire and critical inquiry are not disruptions of democratic order; they are essential to its vitality," Digipub said in a statement on Tuesday (February 10).
The press body cited the publication of a satirical animated cartoon by The Wire "raising legitimate questions of accountability in parliament," followed by the temporary blocking of the outlet’s Instagram account and the subsequent removal of the cartoon from social media platforms. Digipub underlined that "the government has offered no reasoning for how the cartoon violated the law."
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During the same period, the Instagram accounts of Deshabhimani newspaper and No Cap (a Malayalam portal) were permanently disabled.
“Taken together, these measures do not appear incidental. They reflect a growing pattern in which satire, critical journalism, and dissenting voices are constrained through opaque and unaccountable ‘legal demands’, undermining due process and democratic norms,” DIGIPUB said, calling for the restoration of blocked accounts and posts and greater transparency from both authorities and platforms regarding the legal basis of these actions, and the establishment of stronger safeguards to protect press freedom, satire, and independent journalism.
The PCI also condemned the temporary blocking of The Wire’s Instagram page and the takedown of the 52-second satirical clip, underlining that the website had not received any prior notice from the government or social media companies. “Action of this kind, where no reasons or justifications are provided for censoring a media organisation’s work and removing it from public view, have become shockingly common,” the statement said.
Also read: The Wire’s Instagram Account Blocked for Two Hours Over Cartoon Critical of Modi
It noted that satire and cartoons have long been part of Indian journalism and warned that suppressing such content undermines the freedom of expression guaranteed by the constitution. It demanded an explanation for why the video was censored and why the Instagram page was blocked, urging authorities to avoid opaque actions that “deeply undercut press freedom and create a censored media environment.”
“These are not the actions one expects in a vibrant, thriving democracy,” the PCI added.
On Monday (February 9), The Wire's Instagram page was blocked in India for nearly two hours. Readers who opened The Wire’s main Instagram page, with over 1.3 million followers, were greeted with a terse message saying the account was “not available in India … because we complied with a legal request to restrict this content.”
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