The Congress on Sunday alleged that Instagram temporarily blocked social media content posted by Rahul Gandhi featuring Vijay during the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s oath-taking ceremony, triggering a political controversy over claims of online suppression and platform censorship.
Rahul Gandhi had travelled to Tamil Nadu to attend Vijay’s swearing-in ceremony after the Congress extended support to Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam in forming the government in the state.
Following the event, Gandhi shared several photographs and a reel across social media platforms showing moments from the ceremony, including visuals featuring him alongside Vijay.
Soon after, Congress leaders alleged that Instagram had restricted access to some of the content.
Congress leader Srivatsa, who is considered a close aide of Gandhi, claimed on X that Instagram had “blocked” both the reel and photo post uploaded from Gandhi’s account.
According to him, the reel had reportedly crossed 12 million views within an hour, while the photo post had allegedly reached nearly 46 million users before access to the content was restricted on the platform.
Srivatsa further alleged that the issue was linked to rules framed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
He claimed that Rahul Gandhi’s digital reach across platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, and X had been consistently “suppressed” for a long time.
Congress communication department leader Ruchira Chaturvedi also raised the issue publicly, alleging that Meta first blocked the viral oath-taking ceremony video featuring Gandhi and Vijay and later also restricted an Instagram story uploaded by Gandhi in which he highlighted the blocking issue itself.
The Congress questioned why the video had been restricted and accused the platform of acting without transparency regarding the reasons behind the action.
However, the Union government denied any role in the matter.
Sources in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said allegations linking the ministry to the blocking were incorrect and misleading.
According to government sources, the issue was caused by Instagram’s own internal moderation and automated flagging systems rather than any directive or intervention from the Centre.
Officials said the content had been mistakenly flagged by the platform’s system and was later restored after the issue was identified.
The Centre maintained that no instruction had been issued by the ministry to block or restrict the video or related posts shared by Rahul Gandhi.
The controversy comes amid increasing political scrutiny over social media moderation practices, especially involving viral political content and high-profile opposition leaders in India.
