Instagram has removed an account that published comic strips depicting the struggles of gay Muslims in Indonesia after a frenzy of moral outrage online in the world’s biggest Muslim nation.
The Ministry of Communications said the account under the username Alpatuni was pornographic, which violated the law on information and electronic transactions.
It was closed after the communications minister wrote a warning letter to Instagram, the ministry said.
The comics depicted gay characters facing discrimination and abuse, which has become increasingly common in Indonesia since late 2015 when conservative politicians and religious leaders began a campaign of portraying LGBT people as a threat to the nation.
An account of the same name on Facebook, which owns Instagram, was also no longer accessible.
Human Rights Watch’s Indonesia researcher Andreas Harsono said Instagram should defend its own guidelines, which published in Indonesian say the service is a mirror of the diversity of the community, instead of “kowtowing” to the government.
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