Congress claims Instagram blocked Rahul's reel, photo post featuring TVK's Vijay due to IT Ministry rules

The Congress on Sunday claimed that Instagram has "blocked" Rahul Gandhi's reel and photo post featuring him and actor-politician Vijay due to the rules of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, even as government sources denied the charge.

Sources in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) clarified that it had nothing to do with the action, and it was because the platform's internal system mistakenly flagged the post for blocking.

Gandhi was in Chennai on Sunday to attend the oath-taking ceremony of Vijay as the Tamil Nadu chief minister and later shared several pictures with the actor-politician on social media.

In a post on X, Congress leader and Gandhi's aide Srivatsa claimed that Instagram has "blocked Gandhi's reel and pictures post featuring him and Thalapathy Vijay at today's swearing-in ceremony".

12 million views in less than an hour

The viral reel had gathered 12 million views in less than an hour, while the viral picture post had already reached 46 million people, Srivatsa.

"Meta cites no reason as to why his account has become inaccessible. The 'glitch' is because of MEITY rules! Rahul Gandhi's social media accounts have been suppressed for a long time. His X reach, YouTube views, and Insta followers have all been suppressed," he alleged.

This is how India's opposition leader's voice is curtailed, Srivatsa added.

Responding to the claims, sources in the MeitY said it has been wrongly claimed by certain social media handles that certain posts of the leader of the opposition were restricted by the ministry.

"It is clarified that MeitY had nothing to do with this action. It was because of the platform's own internal system mistakenly flagging the post for blocking, which has now been restored," a source in the ministry said.