Published Mar 10, 2026 | 3:20 PM ⚊ Updated Mar 10, 2026 | 3:20 PM
Vow of silence.
Synopsis: Editorial cartoonist Satish Acharya said that the Union government has sent him two notices via X in three days to remove two of his cartoons from the platform. In a mail sent to Acharya, X Corp said that it had received a blocking order from the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
Editorial cartoonist Satish Acharya said on Tuesday, 1o March, that the Union government has sent him two notices via X (formerly Twitter) in three days to remove two of his cartoons, including one he had drawn for South First, from the platform.
Acharya told South First that he has been receiving such notices from X for the past few years regarding the cartoons he publishes.
“This is not the first time that I have received such a notice; it has been going on for the past few years. The government is not sending notices directly, but it has been asking X to take down cartoons criticising it. Although X doesn’t remove it, it sends notice regarding the government action,” he said.
Currently, the X posts showing the cartoons are unavailable in India, and the links to them say, “This Post from @satishacharya has been withheld in India in response to a legal demand.”
In a mail sent to Acharya, X Corp said that it had received a blocking order from the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, citing Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
“Due to legal restrictions, we are unable to provide you with additional information. However, if you wish to contest this blocking order, we encourage you to contact cyberlaw@meity.gov.in or seek appropriate relief from the courts. Indian law obligates X to withhold access to this content in India; however, the content remains available elsewhere,” it said in the notice.
When asked whether he considers the Union government’s action as a violation of Article 19, Acharya said, “Of course, it is a violation of the freedom of expression. I am a cartoonist, and I have the right to draw and publish cartoons. These cartoons are not even offensive.”
When told that several creators on X had posted about receiving similar notices over posts on the Iran issue, he said, “Maybe the government wants to undo the negative publicity (due to its silence) regarding the conflict by blocking the posts.”
The first cartoon, the one Acharya had drawn for South First, questioned the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the US-Israel bombing on Iran and the killing of its supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, even though he had earlier publicly announced that Iran is an ally of India.
The second cartoon also questioned Prime Minister Modi’s silence on a US submarine sinking the Iranian warship IRIS Dena off the coast of the Indian Ocean.
