Meta's Apps Dominate India's Gen Z Protests, Now Modi's Government Wants Answers

Meta has become the most influential social media company in India, according to a CNBC report. Citing data from digital intelligence provider Sensor Tower, CNBC reported that WhatsApp averaged 837 million daily active users in India so far this year, Instagram averaged 501 million, and Facebook averaged 362 million. By comparison, Google's YouTube had 646 million and Elon Musk's platform X had 15 million. Meta's three apps combined dwarf the competition in the world's largest democracy.

That dominance got a real-world test amid Gen Z-led protests that rocked India last week, according to CNBC. The protests, organized in part by a viral youth movement called the Cockroach Janta Party, forced Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to act on protesters' demands. Instagram was widely used by protesters to raise concerns with the government and to record clashes with authorities.

Modi didn't sit out that moment. On July 23, he posted his first selfie-style Instagram video, aimed at reaching Gen Z voters. CNBC reports it drew more than 300 million views within 24 hours and was nearing 400 million shortly after. Modi has since posted more videos and directed his ministers to build up their own Instagram presence.

Sensor Tower data cited by CNBC also showed that between July 18 and July 26 — as the protests peaked — Instagram's average daily active users in India rose 16% year-on-year to 531 million, with daily active users climbing 2.6% during that stretch, while Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp usage stayed largely flat.

The Scrutiny That Comes With Power

Meta's growing footprint in India is now inviting the kind of regulatory heat the company already faces in Europe and the U.S., according to CNBC, covering content moderation, competition, privacy and digital payments.

Earlier this month, the Indian government issued a stern warning to Instagram to remove child abuse ads from its platform, following an earlier warning to WhatsApp over its rollout of a username feature. Local media also reported that India's information technology ministry had summoned Meta's global policy heads over concerns about non-compliance with the country's Information Technology Rules and the prevalence of deepfakes on platforms like Instagram and Facebook, CNBC reported.

The ministry was also unhappy after access to Modi's selfie-style video was briefly restricted on Facebook, according to reports cited by CNBC. India's IT secretary called the action "disturbing" in comments to news agency ANI.

Experts told CNBC that social media's growing influence puts the government in a bind: it wants tighter compliance from these apps while remaining deeply reliant on them to reach millions of Indians. As Rohit Kulkarni of Roth Capital Partners put it to CNBC, Instagram's growing prominence among younger users reinforces Meta's dominant position in India's digital ecosystem.