After the Iran war sent India's economy into a tailspin, citizens responded with memes. The government responded by ordering Instagram, X, and Facebook to take them down under threat of seven years in prison — confirming that in India, the pen is mightier than the sword, and therefore classified as a weapon.
When Israel and the US launched a war on Iran in early 2026, India's currency tumbled, cooking gas vanished, and restaurants shuttered. Citizens did what citizens do: they made jokes. Instagram user Namaskaar turned a hymn into a song asking Modi to use his friendship with Netanyahu to get cooking gas. Comedian Pulkit Mani posted satire that Instagram blocked citing a government order. Satirist Prateek Sharma's X account was blocked after government counsel told a high court his posts — including elect a clown, expect a circus — portrayed Modi in bad taste. Under Section 69(A) of the IT Act, platforms face seven years imprisonment for non-compliance with takedown orders. Meta and X dutifully complied, proving that India's tech ecosystem has achieved true self-reliance: domestically manufactured censorship, exported on foreign platforms.