Instagram has temporarily restricted access to the account of political cartoonist Satish Acharya in India, days after some of his cartoons focused on the Election Commission and its decisions concerning the revision of electoral rolls. The development has drawn support from fellow cartoonists and the Kerala Cartoon Academy, which has called for the restriction to be withdrawn. A message displayed on Acharya’s Instagram page says access to the account was restricted “pursuant to legal requirements” under India’s Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules. Meta, Instagram’s parent company, has not issued a separate public statement explaining the action.
Acharya confirmed the restriction through posts on X, saying that some of his older cartoons, including works published in 2023, were also being blocked in India. He wrote that cartoons from earlier years were now being restricted and questioned the move. The development follows several recent cartoons by Acharya dealing with the Election Commission, including commentary on the special intensive revision of electoral rolls. One of his recent cartoons referred to reported objections raised by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi over decisions linked to the electoral roll revision exercise. The Election Commission has maintained that decisions relating to the exercise were taken unanimously.
The restriction has also been linked in reports to a broader set of actions involving political cartoons on Instagram. Another cartoonist, Manjul, said on September 27 that Instagram had restricted access in India to one of his cartoons concerning the Election Commission. According to Manjul, Instagram informed him that the restriction followed a notice from the Government of India or law-enforcement authorities. He said the cartoon remained visible outside India. The two developments have emerged amid an ongoing public debate over the Election Commission's handling of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls and reports about disagreements among members of the poll panel over certain decisions.
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Acharya also drew attention to a December 2018 statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the role of political cartoons. Sharing a report about Modi's remarks on the work of late cartoonist R K Laxman, Acharya pointed to the prime minister's earlier description of cartoons as having a “healing power”. He accompanied the post with a critical comment about the present restriction. Acharya has also said he was attempting to challenge the action but had faced difficulty accessing Instagram's support mechanisms. Reports said he did not receive a separate communication from Meta explaining the specific legal request before his account became unavailable to users in India.
The Kerala Cartoon Academy has expressed solidarity with Acharya and Manjul and urged that the restrictions be withdrawn. In a statement issued by its chairman Sudhir Nath, the academy described cartooning as an art form of criticism and said it was concerned about what it described as a growing trend of restricting critical expression. The academy said similar restrictions had reportedly affected other cartoonists and expressed concern that some artists had not publicly protested against such actions. It also referred to the long history of political cartooning in India and recalled the association between former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and cartoonist Shankar.
The precise legal direction or government notice that resulted in the restriction of Acharya's entire Instagram account has not been publicly detailed by Meta in a separate statement. Instagram's notice refers broadly to legal requirements under India's IT Rules, while reports have connected the action to cartoons concerning the Election Commission. The distinction is significant because platform notices can restrict content or accounts in a particular jurisdiction without necessarily removing the material globally. In Acharya's case, reports indicate that the account has been made inaccessible to users in India, while some of his material remains available elsewhere. The development has therefore prompted renewed discussion among cartoonists and digital rights observers about government requests, platform enforcement and the space available for political satire online.
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