Meta takes down anti-SIR protest videos of diaspora groups

Hyderabad: Indian diaspora groups have alleged that their content about protests against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is being flagged and taken down from social media platforms in India, with users unable to access their videos.

According to the Times of India, the groups’ videos were withheld in India. The protesters said their videos portrayed no controversial visuals and only included announcements or videos of peaceful demonstrations. South Asia Collective Ireland said in a statement that their social media post was just a video of protest outside the Indian embassy.

“Our post didn’t even say anything controversial. It was just a video collage of our protest outside the Indian embassy.” They questioned which Instagram policies they had violated to have their video taken down.

The South Asia Collective had organised a series of protests against the SIR, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. On October 23, they held the ‘Embassy Chalo’ protest outside the Indian Embassy in Dublin in conjunction with protests across Europe and North America.

Their post on the protest featured a video collage of the demonstration, with the caption, “Building Jantar Mantar outside Indian Embassy, Ireland.” It was made unavailable in India on October 24. The notice said access was restricted via an “automated system” under the “Indian legal requirements” without specifying which content prompted the ban.

An Indian-origin healthcare professional based in Freiburg, Germany, Gul Dahiya, said the videos/photos of the posters she made with friends against SIR were taken down in India within minutes of uploading.

Messages such as “Save Democracy in India” and “Solidarity Protest: Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar must resign” were written on the posters.

“I am not even in India, I live in a small town in Germany where I am organising a small protest. But within minutes of posting, I received a notification saying they were unavailable in India,” Gul Dahiya said.

She questioned whether Indians abroad had no right to address issues regarding their own native country. A screenshot of the notice she received in German states that all three posts over the stir were unavailable in India. No specific reason was given, Dahiya said.

Meta said the reason is related to the 2026 amendments to India’s Information Technology (IT) Rules. An explainer on the amendments said the company utilises tools to detect and evaluate potentially violating content. It “also automatically restricts access to certain types of content in India based on legal requirements under IT Rules,” TOI reported.

The company may limit access to singular posts, images or videos in India when required under the IT rules or in response to legal orders. The explainer noted that content restrictions are based on valid court and government orders, with affected users notified in every case.

While Meta’s explainer states that users may appeal restrictions in-app, the company failed to clarify which legal mechanism was used or whether a specific order prompted either block.

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