Within 12 hours of reactivating our account, Instagram has inexplicably disabled Tamil Guardian’s page once more, without warning or explanation.
Since our account was reactivated this morning, we posted one breaking story, which garnered thousands of likes within hours. Our work is crucial and it is being silenced.
We have still not received any explanation from Meta and Instagram as to why our account has been repeatedly disabled and why our posts have been removed, despite attempts to reach out through various channels.
Yesterday we revealed that the Sri Lankan state has been leading attempts to silence Tamil voices online, including that of the Tamil Guardian. Even as it jails journalists on the island, the regime has demonstrated repeatedly that it will not tolerate freedom of expression anywhere in the world. Unless there is immediate and drastic change, Facebook will be guilty of colluding with a racist and authoritarian state.
We demand urgent and immediate action from Meta and Instagram. This can not continue.