By banning @TamilGuardian, @Instagram and @Facebook are contributing to the decades of repression and attacks on the Tamil press. I condemn this act of censorship and call for the account to be reinstated. pic.twitter.com/nq96s7WbBR
— Shritharan Sivagnanam (@ImShritharan) October 29, 2021
Tamil politicians from the North-East joined British and Canadian parliamentarians in denouncing Instagram’s censoring of Tamil Guardian’s page.
Tamil Guardian’s Instagram account, was briefly reinstated on Friday after it was disabled on Wednesday without any prior warning or explanation.
However, just over 12 hours later, it was disabled again.
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP S Shritharan tweeted that the censorship contributes to the “decades of repression and attacks on the Tamil press.”
Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) leader Gajen Ponnambalam also expressed his dismay and called the move “disgraceful and outrageous.”
.@Facebook’s ?@instagram?’s actions against ?@TamilGuardian? is not only disgraceful and unacceptable but must be condemned outright. The world pandered to the #SriLankan state to such an extent that it allowed a war that culminated in #tamil #genocide. (1) pic.twitter.com/n10HDZfcq5
— Gajen Ponnambalam MP (@GGPonnambalam) October 29, 2021
These type of actions by Instagram will only embolden the Sri Lankan state in its culture of impunity and make the victims to continue to be voiceless," he added.
Despite reaching out to Facebook and Instagram through various channels, they have not provided an explanation as to why the page has been disabled or why posts are repeatedly removed.
