Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng opened up about struggling to log into both her Instagram and Facebook accounts after she went viral for publicly questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Norway. Expressing her concerns in back-to-back social media posts, the commentator in the Norwegian newspaper Dagsavisen shared with her followers via X that her SNS accounts, operated under the Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta umbrella, had been suspended.

Viral Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng’s Meta accounts suspended

“If you’re trying to reach me on Instagram or Facebook, I would like to let you know I have been suspended from both accounts,” she wrote on the Elon Musk-acquired platform X. “I have wanted to respond to as many Indians as possible, but my responses will now be delayed.” Tagging Meta’s official X account, she added, “I hope I will get my accounts back.”

In a previous post on X, Lyng shared a screenshot of her failed attempt to log into her Instagram account. “Throughout all day I have struggled to log onto my Instagram account,” she said online. Calling it a “small prize to pay for press freedom,” she claimed that she had “never experienced” such a case of SNS account suspension before.

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What did Helle Lyng ask PM Modi?

Lyng became the centre of a row with Indian officials after she raised objections to the lack of a Q&A session during Prime Minister Modi’s joint press briefing with his Norwegian counterpart, Jonas Gahr Store, earlier this week. Sharing a video of the Indian leader walking out of the presser, she said online that PM Modi refrained from addressing her question.

“I was not expecting him to,” she said in an online post. Someone, presumably Lyng herself, can be heard in the background, asking, “Why don’t you take some questions from the freest press in the world?”

“Norway has the number one spot on the World Press Freedom Index, India is at 157th, competing with Palestine, Emirates & Cuba. It is our job to question the powers we cooperate with,” she added on X.

The official account of the Indian Embassy in Norway has since directly responded to Lyng, saying that they were organising a press briefing on the Indian PM’s visit at a Radisson hotel and she was “most welcome to come and ask” her questions at the event.

In a separate video post, Lyng can be heard striking up a conversation with the Norwegian prime minister. According to her X post, the international journalist asked Jonas Gahr Store, “Why Norway refers to India as a democracy when the Indian PM has not had a press conference in 12 years at home.”

She added further, “Is not a free press important to democracy anymore? Støre points to India holding elections. He does acknowledge differences in press culture, but also points to Indias large population.”

Helle Lyng has since publicised sitting down with fellow journalists across the world, including those associated with India’s Bamcef News, and opening up about the viral PM Modi interaction in Norway. In her interview with the Delhi-based outlet, she said, “I’m very lucky to work in Norway. It’s probably one of the safest places in the world to work as a journalist.”

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After the scenes of her questioning PM Modi, while he walked off stage, went viral on the internet, Lyng even reached out to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, asking if he was available for a phone interview. “It would be interesting to hear how you view the visit to Norway,” she said on X, replying to RaGa’s own tweet, wherein he shared a video of the same incident involving the Norwegian journalist.

“When there is nothing to hide, there is nothing to fear,” Gandhi wrote online, referring to the now-viral development. “What happens to India’s image when the world sees a compromised PM panic and run from a few questions?”

Disclaimer: The content in this article is based on a viral social media discussion and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only.