A political row broke out on Sunday after the Congress claimed that an Instagram reel and photo post featuring Rahul Gandhi and actor-turned-politician Vijay had been "blocked" due to rules framed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). The Centre, however, denied the allegation and said the issue was caused by Instagram's internal systems.
Rahul Gandhi was in Chennai earlier in the day to attend Vijay's oath-taking ceremony as Tamil Nadu chief minister. Following the event, Gandhi shared pictures and a reel featuring the two leaders on social media.
Congress alleges suppression
In a post on X, Congress leader and Gandhi aide Srivatsa claimed that Instagram had restricted access to the posts shortly after they went viral.
"Instagram has 'blocked Gandhi's reel and pictures post featuring him and Thalapathy Vijay at today's swearing-in ceremony'," Srivatsa wrote.
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According to him, the reel had already received 12 million views within an hour, while the photo post had reached 46 million users before access issues emerged.
"Meta cites no reason as to why his account has become inaccessible. The 'glitch' is because of MEITY rules! Rahul Gandhi's social media accounts have been suppressed for a long time. His X reach, YouTube views, and Insta followers have all been suppressed," he alleged.
"This is how India's opposition leader's voice is curtailed," Srivatsa added.
Centre rejects claims
Government sources denied any involvement by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in restricting the content.
Per NDTV, sources in MeitY said it was "wrongly claimed by certain social media handles that certain posts of the leader of the opposition were restricted by the ministry".
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"It is clarified that MeitY had nothing to do with this action. It was because of the platform's own internal system mistakenly flagging the post for blocking, which has now been restored," a source in the Ministry was quoted as saying by NDTV.
The development triggered a wider debate online over social media moderation and the visibility of political content on digital platforms.
