Meta Restores Access to Kashmir Life’s Facebook, Instagram Pages in India | Kashmir Life

SRINAGAR: Meta on Monday restored access in India to the verified Facebook and Instagram pages of Kashmir Life, which had remained restricted for about a week following a request from law enforcement authorities. The Facebook page of Greater Kashmir was also restored.

Access to the publication’s Facebook page became unavailable to users across India around 4:30 pm on March 2, when readers reported that they were unable to view the page. No prior public notice had been issued before the restriction was imposed.

At the time, Meta Platforms displayed an automated message stating that access to the page had been restricted in India “pursuant to a notice from ‘The Government of India V Law Enforcement’ under Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.” The message advised the organisation to contact the issuing authority for further details.

Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 empowers authorities to direct intermediaries to disable access to specific content after receiving actual knowledge through a court order or a government notification.

A similar notice appeared on Instagram stating: “We received a legal request to restrict this content. We reviewed it against our policies and conducted a legal and human rights assessment. After the review, we restricted access to the content in the location where it goes against local law.”

Following the restoration on Monday, both pages again became accessible to users in India.

Sohail Khan, who has been following Kashmir Life since 2023, said he was relieved by the development. “I’m glad the pages have been restored. I can now once again watch and access the wide range of content Kashmir Life regularly shares.”

Kashmir Life places on record its sincere thanks to readers who expressed concern over the absence of its pages during the past week. The organisation also acknowledged members of the political class who publicly raised the issue, and expressed gratitude to the Internet Freedom Foundation, a digital rights organisation working on issues related to online freedoms, for assisting in navigating the complexities involved in understanding and managing the situation during the period of restriction.