Press bodies have criticised the Union government for blocking a parody animation featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted by news outlet The Wire on social media, describing the actions as a sign of “an alarming erosion of freedom of expression in India”.
Condemning the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s decision, the Editors Guild of India stated on Thursday that The Wire was not informed of the reason for the removal of what it described as a “harmless cartoon”.
The “ostensible reason”, conveyed orally to the publication’s founders, was that the cartoon would affect the security and reputation of the country, said the guild.
If that was indeed the case, the excuse was “laughable”, it added.
The guild described the incident as “yet another example of the rising intolerance to comment and scrutiny” on the part of the Union government and its representatives, arguing that such actions tarnish India’s credentials as an accommodative democracy that gives space to media, including satire and humour.
It also said that the government introduced the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2026a day after this action. The new rules hasten the takedown of offensive and illegitimate content prepared synthetically, said the guild.
Citing the Internet Freedom Foundation, the guild said the relevant clause was “overbroad” and could affect creative interpretation by cartoonists, potentially placing “a prior restraint on synthetically generated content that is satirical, parodical, and part of political commentary and artistic expression”.
The guild called on the government to undertake a serious review of the new rules and ensure that measures introduced in the name of regulating artificial intelligence do not undermine media freedom and free speech.
Digipub News India Foundation, an association of independent digital news organisations and journalists of which Scroll is a member, said on Tuesday that the Union government had offered no reasoning for how the cartoon violated the law.
It said the measures did not “appear incidental” but reflected a growing pattern in which satire, critical journalism and dissenting voices are constrained through “opaque and unaccountable ‘legal demands’” that undermine due process and democratic norms.
The organisation called for the immediate restoration of all blocked accounts and posts, as well as full transparency from the authorities and social media platforms regarding the legal basis for the actions.
DIGIPUB News India Foundation expresses deep concern over a series of recent actions that signal an alarming erosion of freedom of expression in India. pic.twitter.com/TlZLckOh0U
— DIGIPUB News India Foundation (@DigipubIndia) February 10, 2026 Also read: Centre fixes three-hour deadline for social media platforms to take down flagged AI content
The Press Club of India also condemned the arbitrary nature of the action against The Wire and said that moves of this kind have become “shockingly common”.
It emphasised that satire and cartoons have long been an important part of Indian news publishing and argued that disregarding this tradition undermines the freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution.
The Press Club demanded an immediate explanation for why the video was censored and why The Wire’s Instagram page was unavailable for two hours.
It urged the government to “refrain from acting in opaque ways that deeply undercut press freedom and create a censored media environment”.
The statement added that “these are not the actions one expects in a vibrant, thriving democracy”.
The Press Club of India condemns the temporary blocking of The Wire's Instagram page on Monday (February 9) and the takedown of a 52-second satirical clip from the website's Instagram, Facebook and X handles based on an undisclosed "legal request". pic.twitter.com/bhXuFLBaw3
— Press Club of India (@PCITweets) February 10, 2026 The Wire’s Instagram account was 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 action followed the blocking of a parody animation by the news outlet across platforms.
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 the prime minister for allegedly avoiding questions in Parliament about an unpublished memoir by former Indian Army chief MM Naravane.
On Monday, The Wire claimed that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting told the news outlet that it had not specifically ordered the blocking of its account.
The news outlet, however, claimed that it had “learned informally that the ministry asked Meta to block a 52-second satirical cartoon on Instagram” and that the platform’s parent company had blocked the entire account “in error”.
Under the Information Technology Act, the Union government is required to inform a publisher in advance before blocking specific content. The Wire has claimed that it had received no written communication on the matter.
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