Morphed Screenshot About Instagram Being Banned in India Goes Viral

The viral screenshot is altered and the Centre has not banned Instagram application in India.

Fact-check: No post was made by First India News about the central government banning Instagram application in India.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A screenshot purportedly by the news outlet, First India News, showing 'breaking news' about central government banning Instagram application in India is going viral on social media.

• The screenshot states that this decision was made by the government after teenagers are getting influenced by 'wrong content' through Instagram.

• Some claims also mention that the application would not be available in India after 17 June.

An archive can be seen here.

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here. We also received this query on our WhatsApp tipline.)

Is this true?: No, the Centre has not issued any such order and the application is still available in India on all application stores including iOS and Android.

• First India News also clarified that this is viral screenshot is altered.

How did we find this out?: We checked for news reports about this ban and found none.

• We also checked Meta Platform's website, which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, but did not find any such news.

• As of 18 June, we also found Instagram application available to download on Google Play Store for Android and on Apple App Store for iOS. It is also running properly on mobile phones.

• Next, we found First India News' logo on the viral image and checked their Twitter account for this viral photo.

The viral screenshot carried the logo of First India News.

(Source: Altered by The Quint)

• We could not find the same photo used in the claim on First India News' Twitter account.

• However, we found a clarification posted by them on 16 June about this viral screenshot being fake and morphed.

• The tweet said, "This screenshot showing First India digital's breaking news plate is edited."

Conclusion: No post was made by First India News about the central government banning Instagram application in India.

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