New Delhi: Months after a short video raising concerns over a Google data centre in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, was removed from Instagram, reportedly following a government order, the Meta-owned platform has made it available in India once again.The two-minute Instagram reel uploaded by the Environmental Reporting Collective (ERC) was part of a longer video report titled ‘Meet the Villagers Fighting Google’s Biggest Data Center Outside the U.S.’. Featuring interviews with the residents, it studies the impact on Dalit communities who are allegedly being pushed to give up their lands and homes for the data centre project. The ERC launched a global investigation on the data centre industry and its human and environmental impact, the India part of which has been reported by journalists Shamsheer Yousaf and Monica Jha. According to the authors, the government restrictions on the reel, imposed on May 22, four days after it was published, appear to have been lifted now. View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Environmental Reporting Collective (@ercinvestigates)At the time of the blocking order, the reel had already garnered 2.6 million views. In a statement, ERC had said that they were not provided with any further details or rationale for the restriction.The authors subsequently filed a petition in the Delhi high court, seeking a copy of the blocking order. The order, it was then found, was issued by the Andhra Pradesh Criminal Investigation Department (CID) under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act, 2000, alleging that the video “spread misinformation” concerning an individual, who does not feature anywhere in the reel, the larger reporting, or even in the data center project.In late August, the authors sent a legal notice to the Principal Secretary, Home Department, and the DGP Police, CID, Andhra Pradesh, seeking the periodic review process prescribed under the 2021 IT Rules. While they are yet to hear a response, on September 10, the authors found out that the reel has been made accessible in India again. A notification by Instagram that the restriction has ended. According to the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), which is representing the authors in the legal case, Shamsheer learnt about the restoration only when notifications began arriving on his device that users in India were liking it.The new notification from Instagram (or Meta), titled “Updates on this decision”, read: “Your post was temporarily unavailable in India, but it is now available again. This happened because of a local legal requirement or government request that has now expired or been reversed. You can learn more about how we respond to legal and government requests in our Transparency Center.” While it failed to distinguish between whether the government request “expired” or it was “reversed”, the updated notice curiously states that the restriction ended on May 22, 2026 – the very date on which it was imposed. This, despite the reel being inaccessible in India at the time and for over three and a half months, during which it was also the subject of court proceedings, IFF pointed out.The reversal of the blocking order is welcome, but some questions remain unanswered.The Wire has previously reported on how the launch of the Sahyog portal, a Union home ministry initiative used by law enforcement agencies to automate and expedite the removal of online content, has also increased the speed and frequency of such blocking orders. The portal provides a web link for authorised police officials to enable bulk takedown orders, unilateral action, and direct communication with IT intermediaries, often targeting political criticism and satirical content, while offering no independent review process.