One account, two screens
What most people think
A ban took the account down, so the posts are gone and there is nothing left to open.
What the data shows
1country
The order told X to hide the account inside India and nowhere else. On a phone outside the country every post is still there.
The order covered one account on X. The website and Instagram losses are founder-reported.
One country lost access to the account on 21 May 2026. No other country did.
In plain terms Two panels: on the left what most people assume, on the right what the numbers show, with the one figure that settles it.Source · The Wire
Where the name came from
The account that went dark on Indian phones, and nobody else's, is the Cockroach Janta Party. Its name came from a judge, in open court.
“There are youngsters like cockroaches, who don't get any employment and don't have any place in profession. Some of them become media, some of them become social media, some of them become RTI activists, some of them become other activists, and they start attacking everyone…and you people file contempt petitions!”
— Chief Justice of India Surya Kant · in open court · 15 May 2026
The next day, 16 May 2026, he clarified: "I am pained to read how a section of the media has misquoted my oral observations made during the hearing of a frivolous case yesterday. What I had specifically criticised were those who have entered professions like the Bar with the aid of fake and bogus degrees. Similar persons have sneaked into the media, social media, and other noble professions as well, and hence, they are like parasites."
Source · The Wire
From a remark to a court order
That remark was on a Friday. Two weeks later a satirical account is a case in the Delhi High Court.
Fourteen days from the remark on 15 May to the court on 29 May.
In plain terms The key events in order down a rail, with coloured dots flagging the pivotal moments.Source · The Wire and ThePrint
What the law actually says
Those two weeks end in court, and three words carry the whole case.
- Withheld
- The post is still there. Your phone is not allowed to fetch it. Withheld is not deleted.
- Section 69A
- The blocking power in the Information Technology Act, 2000. The steps for using it are in the Blocking Rules, 2009.
- Not on record
- The judge's phrase on 29 May. The court's record held a communication about the block. The blocking order itself was not in it.
Source · The Wire
How big it actually got
All of that was about one account on X. But the following was counted on Instagram, a different platform, and twenty million is hard to picture.
Within a week of the 16 May launch
~20–22MInstagram followers
A dated range, not a fixed count. Figures vary by platform and by the day.
-
About two crore followers Twenty million, in the unit we count in
-
Roughly two and a half times the BJP's Instagram handle And about one and a half times Congress's, on 21 May
The account passed twenty million Instagram followers within a week of launching.
In plain terms One number, large, and beside it the everyday things it equals, so the size can be felt rather than read.Source · ThePrint reporting, May 2026
The order arrived near the top
Two crore Instagram followers in a week. The question is where the order landed on that climb, and what it produced.
CJP following as share of ~22M peak · May 2026 · approximate, sources vary
In plain terms How fast something caught on over time, following the classic S-shaped adoption curve, with milestones marked.Source · ThePrint / CTC, PTI and Bloomberg
Who writes it, who obeys
The order went out near the top of that climb. Why could the court not read it? Here is how an order moves.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issues a direction under Section 69A. The power survived a Supreme Court challenge in 2015.
X has to act on it, and the law binds it to secrecy about what the order says.
The order stays confidential. Whoever is blocked has to argue against a document they are not allowed to read.
Source · The Wire · Delhi High Court record
One order, inside a system
That walk happens on paper you never see. These four figures are what the record does show.
CJP × §69A · MAY 2026
In plain terms The headline numbers from the story, each with its unit and a one-line note.Source · The Wire and ThePrint
The executive holds one of five levers
One formal order. Here are the five things that could be done to an account, and who can actually do them.
Of five levers, the Indian executive holds one. The rest sit with the platforms, the account, or nobody at all.
In plain terms Levers down the side, the four actors across the top, and a filled cell where that actor holds the lever.Source · The Wire and ThePrint · Delhi High Court record