Environmental Reporting Collective (ERC)—an international network of journalists —has issued a statement against Meta, the parent company of Instagram, for reportedly restricting their video story in India, which addressed the forced displacement of Dalits in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam to accommodate a Google data centre, without offering any clarification.
The two-minute video, published on May 19, was based on an investigative piece by journalists Shamsheer Yousaf and Monica Jha. The article, As Data Centres Arrive, India’s Poorest Displacement, Health Risks, was published as part of ERC’s Dirty Data series, which examines the human cost of data centres. This video reported the impact of the proposed Google data centre project in Visakhapatnam on Dalit lands and local communities.
The viral video, which clocked more than 2.6 million views, was restricted from viewing in India on May 22, ERC said.
The video was restricted in India in pursuant to a legal notice from “The Government of India/Law Enforcement under Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.” This section deals with any platform that fails to expeditiously remove or disable access to material being used to commit an unlawful act once it is notified of it by a government agency.
ERC said that it did not receive any detailed explanation for the restriction.
“The lack of clarity surrounding this restriction raises broader concerns about the mechanisms through which journalistic content can be limited from public view, especially when such reporting addresses issues of significant public interest,” the statement reads.
While stating that they are currently seeking legal advice over the issue, they have asked Meta to reinstate access to the video in India.
Speaking to TNM, Shamsheer said: “Meta has blocked this video without giving any information about who issued the blocking order. Platforms such as Twitter (X) at least inform under whose direction the content was blocked. But Meta does not provide these details.”
Last month, Meta complied with the Union government’s censorship orders, allowing the government to automatically restrict flagged content on its social media platforms – Instagram and Facebook. The Union government’s Sahyog portal has authorised police officials in India to send takedown notices to social media platforms empowered under Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act.
In contrast, X has challenged these orders in court. Further, X Corporation offers also some transparency to legally challenge these takedown orders. Owned by Elon Musk, the platform not just informs users of the request but also shares the originating authority and identifies the specific content in question, through which the user can seek legal remedies.
Shamsheer said that the now restricted video had generated a lot of criticism against Google’s proposed data centre in Visakhapatnam. He claimed that a lot of news articles critical of the project have been repressed.