Meta has restricted the Instagram account of the “Stop Vizag Data Centers” campaign in India. The group stated that Meta informed them the action was taken due to legal requirements under India’s Information Technology Rules, without specifying which posts or complaints triggered the decision. Before this indefinite account restriction, nine individual posts critical of the proposed data centre projects had already been restricted.
The campaign, representing a coalition of citizen groups and civil society organisations, criticised Andhra Pradesh’s IT minister Nara Lokesh and stated that content critical of AI data centres has previously been removed in India. Meta has also restricted related posts from the Human Rights Forum and the Environmental Reporting Collective. The Human Rights Forum previously reported that X Corp was asked by Andhra Pradesh police to remove similar critical content.
The campaign’s posts focus on the land use, water consumption, energy demand, and ecological footprint of the proposed data centre cluster, while activists have raised concerns about a lack of meaningful consultation before land clearance. While the account remains accessible internationally, the restriction stays in place within India as digital rights observers note a pattern of content takedowns affecting critics of large infrastructure projects.