India's IT ministry directs Meta to supress protest reporting on Instagram and Facebook by modifying it recommendation algorithms
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued an advisory to Meta on October 10, 2026, directing it to review its recommendation algorithms on Facebook and Instagram. The government asked the platform to prevent the disproportionate exposure of users to a single set of narratives and to add better context to posts covering ongoing public events.
On 10 October 2026, the Cyber Laws Division of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued an advisory to Meta Platforms bearing File No. 6(2)/2026-Cyberlaws. It was not published on the MEITY website and first HT and then PTI reported it on 18 October. Any such advisory is not a legal order and MEITY is not legally empowered to issue them on the basis of any statutory provision. This advisory followed, by two days, an advisory of 8 October to all social media intermediaries calling for "enhanced diligence" over content on "ongoing public events", asking platforms to "label or add context" to misleading content and to "give priority to complaints from authorised Government agencies". IFF called for the withdrawal of that advisory on 9 October. The Meta advisory was issued on the day the Delhi Police detained protesters and journalists at the demonstrations called over the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
The advisory states that content relating to "public-order and law and order situations" is being "prominently displayed and recommended" on Meta's platforms and, "when presented without adequate context or disproportionately amplified", "may contribute to public confusion, apprehension and disturbance of public order and social tranquillity". It singles out "unverified or misleading claims regarding the imposition of emergency, restrictions, police action or other official measures". Further, Meta is advised to review its "recommendation and content ranking mechanisms", to ensure its systems "do not result in disproportionate exposure of users to a single or limited set of narratives", and to furnish "information or assistance" to law enforcement, "with immediate effect". PTI reports that the Ministry acted on inputs from "agencies" that Meta's platforms were not promoting all "narratives" equally.
This advisory matches restrictions on META platforms related to protest content and reporting in the same timline. On 10 October, the Instagram account of Molitics India was withheld in India. On 11 October, a Mathrubhumi English reel showing a woman clinging to a pole as police officers attempted to detain her was restricted citing, "a notice from the Government of India/Law Enforcement", and a video report by Observer Post Hindi was restricted on Facebook by what Meta called an "automated system" acting under the IT Rules, 2021. On 12 October, the Instagram account of journalist Shubhangi Das Gupta was restricted in India for alleged non-compliance with "local IT Rules". On 13 October, the account of Journo Mirror (about five lakh followers) was withheld. The account of Fridays For Future India has since been withheld without any stated reason. Meta's notices to these users do not disclose what is unlawful about the content.
As per notices shared by us by those who have been censored by META, they take two forms:
1. "a notice from the Government of India/Law Enforcement under Section 79(3)(b)", and,
2. "through an automated system implemented pursuant to legal requirements under India's Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules".
Neither names the issuing agency, the order, the provision of law or offence the content is said to disclose, or the URL complained of. We know due to litigation that the first notice related to a Sahyog order issued by a Law Enforcement Agency (LEA), while the second one is without any legal order. At the same time, several users received no communication at all. Instagram used the same "automated system" notice against Anjali Priya, Varnika Dhawan and Sachin Gupta after the July protests, and against cartoonist Satish Acharya, who lost nine cartoons and then his account between February and September 2026.
In April 2026, The Hindu reported that Meta automatically restricts government and police flagged content in India at scale, and seeks a separate government direction before restoring content later found to be legally unsupported. IFF objected to Meta on 4 May 2026. IFF condemns the advisory of 10 October and the restrictions imposed in its wake. An executive communication that instructs a platform to suppress "unverified" claims about "police action" and to correct a "limited set of narratives", issued on the day of a police crackdown and kept from the public, is a censorship directive in all but name. It makes the State the editor of what Indians may see of a protest against the State. IFF calls upon MeitY to withdraw it and upon Meta to disclose what it has done under it.
Key Demands of Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) :-
1. MeitY must withdraw the advisories of 8 and 10 October 2026 forthwith and publish them.
2. MeitY must abandon proposed Rule 3(4) and restrict content only by reasoned, published orders under Section 69A or notices compliant with Rule 3(1)(d).
3. Meta must disclose every takedown, account restriction and act of downranking carried out under the advisories, and its compliance report to the Ministry.
4. Meta must restore the accounts and posts of journalists, outlets and creators restricted since 8 October 2026 unless it holds a valid legal order, and must furnish that order to the person affected.
5. Meta must suspend the automated restriction of content in India and disclose on what inputs its "automated system" acts.
Any person whose account or content has been withheld in India since 8 October 2026 may write to IFF at legal@internetfreedom.in. IFF is providing assistance pro bono.
MeitY's advisory to Meta directs the suppression of protest reporting on Instagram and Facebook. It must be withdrawn immediately.
