Instagram suspends Hyderabad creator amid doxxing, casteist abuse

Hyderabad: Hyderabad-based Telugu content creator Ajay Radha Kumar lost access to his Instagram account on Wednesday, August 5, a day after a Hindutva digital creator published his phone number online and triggered a wave of casteist and communal abuse against him. Instagram cited a breach of its intellectual property policy for the suspension, a reason Ajay has disputed, given the timing.

The 23-year-old, who has built a following of over 1 lakh on feminist and Ambedkarite commentary, has spent the past week at the centre of an online harassment campaign by creator TD Rakesh Sharma. The trigger was a video critiquing CJP-protest posters that morphed PM Narendra Modi’s face onto women’s bodies, content Ajay had criticised for its sexism, not endorsed. Sharma’s response misread the video as a defence of the posters, an interpretation Ajay says didn’t survive translation from Telugu to his right-wing critics.

What began as pointed videos turned into targeted harassment on August 3, when Sharma accused Ajay of “duping women,” made casteist remarks against him, and shared claims about his family, including a fabricated political post for his mother. Sharma then posted Ajay’s phone number on the public platform. Ajay reportedly received 100 to 120 calls in a single evening, many laced with caste-and-religion-based abuse against him and his family, forcing him to start blocking numbers.

Ajay has since filed a complaint at the Punjagutta police station. Sharma, meanwhile, has kept up the campaign, posting a total of 11 videos targeting Ajay, including ones probing his caste background.

Siasat.com had earlier reported on the complaint, noting that Ajay, who goes by “Radical Ajay” online, told police Sharma’s campaign had culminated in the public disclosure of his address and phone number, and had asked authorities to remove the videos and suspend Sharma’s account.