The Pulse | Politics | South Asia

Indian Government Cracks Down on Video Reels Lampooning PM Modi

Authorities took down a video that mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s undignified behavior while meeting foreign leaders.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Elon Musk, owner of X, at a meeting in Blair House in Washington D.C., on Feb. 13, 2025.

On March 18, a parody video reel that had garnered 16 million views on Instagram was suddenly blocked to viewers in India. The reel by stand-up comedian @hunnywhoisfunny, aka Pulkit Mani, satirized Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s overzealous behavior when meeting foreign dignitaries and foreigners. In the reel, Mani mimicked Modi’s habits while meeting foreign leaders during official state visits, including his embarrassing body hugging of these leaders, his guffaws and unintelligible speech. It went viral on social media.

The reel was then suddenly taken down by the platform with a formal notice that said: “Withheld in response to a legal demand” by the Government of India.

Also on March 18, dozens of other parody and satire accounts were blocked, citing “Request (of takedown) is based on local laws.” Some of those blocked on X (formerly Twitter) were handles like @Nehr_who, @DrNimoYadav, @DuckKiBaat, @mrjethwani — all extremely popular political satire and parody accounts — and @ActivistSandeep, the handle of journalist-cum-activist Sandeep Singh. Each of these handles post sharp, insightful political satire. From targeting Modi on his educational qualifications to India’s mishandling of the Israel-U.S. war on Iran, the consequent LPG shortage in the country to the mistreatment of India’s religious minorities – all of these subjects are fodder for political satire.

Angry at this digital censorship, netizens lambasted the Modi government for misusing the Information Technology Act (IT) Act 2000 to muzzle free speech and censor any criticism of Modi.

Since 2014, when Modi became India’s prime minister, his Hindu majoritarian regime has become increasingly authoritarian and intolerant of criticism and dissent.

On March 19, Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), the non-profit organization advocating for digital rights and free speech in India, issued a statement on the “Alarming Escalation of Social Media Censorship and Proposed Expansion of Takedown Powers under the IT Act.”  The statement pointed out that “little or no explanation” had been provided for the take-down order. The IFF further said that it appears the take-down orders are targeting speech that is “political, satirical, or critical rather than clearly unlawful.” It urged the government to provide “timely notice, clear grounds for avenues for remedy” in the interest of transparency. The IFF offered to assist anyone who had faced such online censorship and help them challenge it legally.

In an editorial, The Hindu newspaper criticized the government crackdown. “A person’s entire account being blocked amounts to a digital exile, removing the person from the public square, which is a hallmark of an authoritarian government rather than of a liberal democracy,” it said.

Platforms like X, Instagram, and Facebook are required to comply with the government’s “legal demands” in keeping with section 69(A) of the IT Act 2000, which enables the government to block online content to protect the sovereignty, integrity, national security or public order. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), which orders these takedowns, has not forwarded any such reasons behind the recent spate of crackdowns. Failure to comply with these emergency blocking orders can result in seven years’ imprisonment and a fine. It’s not surprising that the social media platforms enforce the takedown without assessing the legality of the demand.

In a high-handed move in February this year, the Modi government further tightened its leash on free speech. From the existing 24 to 36 hours takedown window, it is now mandated that platforms have to take down content within three hours. These changed rules came into effect on February 20.

Recent news reports have revealed that the Modi government is keen to expand these takedown powers. It intends to allow the ministries of........

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