The Instagram page of ‘Stop Vizag Data Centers’, an account run by a citizen-led campaign group against the hyperscale AI data centre projects coming up in and around Visakhapatnam, has been restricted in India. The campaign group said they were informed by Meta on Saturday, September 19 that their Instagram account was restricted “pursuant to legal requirements under India's Information Technology Rules”.
The account has faced censorship in the past too for their posts critical of data centre projects in Andhra Pradesh, with nine posts being restricted.
In a statement published on their website, the campaign group – composed of multiple citizen’s groups and civil society organisations – said, “Content critical of AI data centers has been taken down in India on Instagram on a noticeable scale… Taking down the Instagram account in toto for an indefinite time, however, is a first.”
It also criticised Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh’s claims that the state government was open to discussions with concerned citizens. “It is now abundantly clear that the Andhra IT minister’s claims of welcoming public debate and addressing people’s concerns are utterly hollow. Suppressing critical voices can never be a substitute for transparency and democratic accountability.”
Meta has also restricted similar posts from the Human Rights Forum (HRF) and the Environmental Reporting Collective (ERC), which spoke about the alleged forced displacement of Dalits to accommodate the Google-Adani data centre project and the environmental costs of the data centres.
HRF had previously been informed by X Corp that they had received a request from Andhra Pradesh police to remove similar content against data centres from HRF’s X account.
The ‘Stop Vizag Data Centers’ campaign account had over 11,800 followers and garnered more than 56 lakh views on its content. It is opposed to the setting up of massive data centres of at least 6.5 GW capacity in the coastal region of north Andhra Pradesh, including those owned by the Adani Group and Reliance. Its posts raised critical questions about land use, water demand, energy consumption, and ecological impact of these projects.
The page regularly posted about citizens’ and activists’ concerns over the AI data centres in Andhra Pradesh, and questioned the lack of transparency from the state government.