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‘Block! Block! Block!’: Cartoonist Satish Acharya’s Instagram account restricted in India

‘Block! Block! Block!’: Cartoonist Satish Acharya’s Instagram account restricted in India

A woman holds a smart phone with the icons for the social networking apps Facebook, Instagram and others seen on the screen Photograph: (AFP)

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Political cartoonist Satish Acharya’s Instagram account has been restricted in India following a government legal request after cartoons on the Election Commission.

Political Cartoonist Satish Acharya's account was restricted in India, following a legal request to Meta from the Union Government. 55-year-old Satish criticised the move on his social media profile with another sharp caricature: “Block! Block! Block! #NarendraModi @TheSouthfirst cartoon”.

“We reviewed it against our policies and conducted a legal and human rights assessment. After the review, we restricted access to the content in the location where it goes against local law,” read the message displayed by the platform when users tried to access his account.

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Acharya's most recent works featured cartoons on the Indian Express Investigation from September 23, which revealed a crisis at the top leadership of the apex polling body of India. According to a report by Scroll, Acharya has not received any prior communication from Meta before his account was taken down.

“This regime boasts about being the most powerful and fearless government,” he said. “But every bit of criticism scares this government, forcing it to resort to cowardice measures.” He said that he had never seen a government "so scared of cartoons," while drawing irony from a 2018 statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi praising cartoons as having "healing power".

Another cartoonist, Manjul, who faced similar restrictions, said that Instagram had restricted one of his works about the Election Commission.

Acharya is well known for witty and hard-hitting satirical cartoons and gained international attention, notably for his powerful illustration following the 2015 Charlie Hebdo tragedy, which featured in The Wall Street Journal and The Guardian.

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Kushal Deb

Kushal Deb is a mid-career journalist with seven years of experience and a strong academic background. Passionate about research, storytelling, writes about economics, policy, cult...Read More