Visakhapatnam, Sep 20: The Instagram account of the ‘Stop Vizag Data Centers’ campaign has been temporarily restricted in India and is currently unavailable to users in the country. ‘Stop Vizag Data Centers’ is a citizen-led campaign opposing the proposed development of AI data centers in Visakhapatnam, citing concerns about their potential ecological and environmental impact.
The notification displayed by Meta states, “We temporarily restricted access to this account pursuant to legal requirements under India’s Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules.” The Instagram account has approximately 11,800 followers and 88 posts, with its content having generated more than 56 lakh (5.6 million) views, according to campaign representatives.
The restriction comes amid similar actions involving social-media content critical of the proposed data center developments in Vizag. Posts by the Human Rights Forum (HRF) and the Environmental Reporting Collective (ERC) have also reportedly been restricted on Meta’s platforms.
Rohit Gutta, a representative of HRF, said on X that the organization had received a request from the Andhra Pradesh Police to remove similar content concerning the data centers from HRF’s X account.
The developments have raised questions about the use of legal and regulatory mechanisms to restrict online content relating to public-interest issues, particularly when the content concerns environmental impacts and large infrastructure projects.
