Parody animation of PM Modi posted by ‘The Wire’ blocked on social media

Social media platforms Instagram, Facebook and X have blocked a parody animation posted by news outlet The Wire.

Its Instagram account was also reportedly unavailable in India for nearly two hours on Monday evening.

Visitors to the page saw a message stating that the page was “not available” in India because the platform was complying with “a legal request to restrict this content”.

The account was accessible only to users outside India or those using virtual private networks, The Wire reported.

The 52-second animated video, which was uploaded to Instagram, Facebook and X at about 6.30 pm on Saturday was blocked on all three platforms. As of 3 pm on Tuesday, The Wire’s Instagram account had been restored, though the parody animation remained inaccessible on all three sites.

The animation satirised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly avoiding questions in Parliament about an unpublished memoir by former Indian Army chief MM Naravane.

Since February 2, the proceedings in the Lok Sabha have disrupted several times with the Opposition protesting against Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi not being allowed to quote an excerpt from Naravane’s memoir about the political decision-making during the 2020 border tensions between India and China.

On February 5, the Lok Sabha passed the Motion of Thanks on the president’s address without Modi giving his customary reply, as Opposition MPs continued their protest. This was...

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