Indian Army Allows Soldiers To Use Instagram, Retains Ban On Posting, Interactions

New Delhi: The Indian Army has reportedly updated its social media policy, allowing soldiers and officers to access Instagram, but only in a view-only mode, while continuing to restrict any form of interaction on the platform.

The directive has been issued by Army Headquarters through the Directorate General of Military Intelligence (DGMI) branch and has been implemented with immediate effect.

The Army also reiterated its warning against the use of VPNs, torrent websites, cracked software, and anonymous web proxies, citing security risks linked to such tools.

Army personnel are allowed to use Instagram solely to watch and monitor content. Posting, liking, or commenting on posts remains prohibited, and all existing rules governing digital behavior for army personnel continue to apply.

The Army described the permitted access as "passive participation," highlighting that any form of engagement continues to be prohibited.

Under the updated guidelines, soldiers are permitted to view and monitor content on Instagram only for information awareness. They may flag fake or misleading posts to senior officers. Similar restrictions continue to apply to other platforms such as YouTube and X.

For the unversed, until 2019, army personnel were not allowed to be part of any social media group. Following several cases of social media misuse, the Army tightened the rules in 2020 and directed soldiers to delete 89 mobile apps, including Facebook and Instagram.

Despite these strict regulations, the Army has allowed the use of certain platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, X, LinkedIn, Quora, Telegram and WhatsApp, with stringent rules and monitoring.