Babar Azam, Mohd Rizwan lead list of Pakistani cricketers restricted on Instagram in India

Babar Azam, Mohd Rizwan (Pic: AFP)

Several top Pakistani cricketers, including Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, have had their official Instagram accounts restricted in India, following a legal directive. When Indian users attempt to access their profiles, they are met with the message: "Account not available in India. This is because we complied with a legal request to restrict this content."

"We received a legal request to restrict this content. We reviewed it against our policies and conducted a legal and human rights assessment. After the review, we restricted access to the content in the location where it goes against local law," further elaborated Instagram.

Babar Azam's IG account

Mohammed Rizwan's IG account

Shaheen Afridi's IG account

This restriction comes in the wake of a recent terrorist attack in South Kashmir's Pahalgam, which claimed the lives of 26 civilians, mostly tourists, and injured many others. The attack has sparked a broader crackdown on Pakistani social media accounts that attract significant engagement from Indian audiences.

The digital block hasn't been limited to cricketers alone. Earlier this week, Pakistan's Olympic javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem also had his Instagram account restricted in India. In the realm of cricket, Instagram pages of Shoaib Akhtar, Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Haris Rauf have also been blocked. However, former legends like Shahid Afridi, Wasim Akram, and Waqar Younis still have profiles that remain accessible to Indian users.

The Indian government has intensified its efforts to limit the influence of Pakistani social media entities with a considerable following across the border. Several Pakistani YouTube channels were similarly restricted in India last week. Among them were the channels of Afridi, Akhtar, and Basit Ali, whose video content can no longer be viewed in the country.

Despite this digital fallout, interest in the Pakistan cricket team remains high among Indian fans. Pakistan's marquee players are currently participating in the ongoing tenth season of the Pakistan Super League (PSL).

However, both Babar and Rizwan are enduring tough phases in the tournament. Babar has scored just 117 runs in six matches, with a top score of 56 not out, while Rizwan's team, Multan Sultans, sits at the bottom of the points table with only one win from seven games.