NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday claimed that Meta had restricted his Instagram account in India without providing any explanation. He alleged that repeated attempts to seek clarification from the company’s India office had gone unanswered.In a post on X, Kejriwal tagged Meta and Meta India, saying his account had become unavailable to users in India.“Hi @Meta @metaindia 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? Noone in your office is giving any reasons. Noone is suggesting how restrictions can be removed. All emails written have elicited no response other than routine acknowledgement. Thats pretty bad service. Don’t bow down to our Prime Minister so much. Else he will allow u to run only his own account in India,” he said.Kejriwal alleged that officials at Meta’s India office informed him verbally about the restriction but did not disclose the reason behind the action or explain how it could be reversed. He also claimed that emails sent to the company had received only routine acknowledgements.
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The AAP leader further accused Meta of “bowing down” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging political bias in the platform’s actions.Kejriwal’s allegation comes a day after Meta apologised to the government over the erroneous removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video from Facebook. The company attributed the incident to a technical error, with Meta’s chief global affairs officer Joel Kaplan saying he had apologised to Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on behalf of the company.The apology followed a parliamentary panel’s warning that Meta could risk losing its intermediary “safe harbour” protection if it failed to explain the removal of the Prime Minister’s video. During discussions with the government, Meta also acknowledged lapses related to child sexual abuse material (CSAM), deepfakes and paid content amplification, while assuring authorities that corrective measures would be implemented.Meta has not yet publicly responded to Kejriwal’s latest claims regarding the alleged restriction of his Instagram account.