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.

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.

(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.

• 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."

फर्स्ट इंडिया डिजिटल की ब्रेकिंग न्यूज प्लेट का स्क्रीन शॉट किया जा रहा है वायरल, वायरल हो रही ब्रेकिंग न्यूज प्लेट में साफ़ समझ आ रहा कि इसे एडिट किया गया है...#Fake #FakeNews #Viral #FirstIndiaNews @instagram @facebook pic.twitter.com/nVrf4hxMfY

— First India News (@1stIndiaNews) June 16, 2023

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

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