Gay Muslim Comic Disappears After Indonesia Threatens Instagram Ban

An Instagram account featuring gay Muslim cartoons has disappeared after Indonesia threatened to ban the whole platform.

The account, @alpantuni (also styled alPantuni) was an Indonesian language comic strip, with the description listed as “Gay Muslim comics for people who are able to think.”

It was centered around characters struggling with gay identity and religious bigotry, and didn’t appear to contain anything inappropriate or against Instagram guidelines.

But the Indonesian government disagreed, and the Information Ministry asked Instagram to remove the account two weeks ago, based on the claim that it was pornographic and thus in violation of an Indonesian law.

“Materials promoting LGBT are against health rules, religious rules and cultural norms. It is not in accordance with Indonesia,” Communications Minister Rudiantara told CNNIndonesia.

He also said they might ban Instagram entirely if the matter wasn’t handled.

This morning, the account disappeared.

Though the Indonesian government seems to be claiming Instagram did as they asked (and also that they previously removed a similarly named account), Instagram says it did not remove @alpantuni from the platform, as the photos did not violate any guidelines.

“There are a number of other reasons why an account may no longer be accessible, including, for example, if the account holder deleted the account, deactivated the account, or changed the account username,” an Instagram spokesman told Reuters.

If Instagram did not remove the account, it's unclear what actually happened to it, and its creator.

For now, users are reposting the content on other Instagram accounts. It is yet to be determined if Indonesia will try to get those taken down, as well.