The Indian government issued orders to remove 36,838 social media posts between 2018 and October 2023. The government informed parliament on last Friday, December 8, that 13,660 posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, were removed, accounting for the majority of the blocked URLs.
In response to queries posed by Communist Party Of India (Marxist) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas, the government released the information. The majority of posts/URLs (9,849) were removed in 2020, the year the COVID-19 pandemic started.
The Rajya Sabha MP for the state of Kerala requested information from the government regarding the quantity and specifics of directives/orders issued in the last five years under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and its implementing regulations, guiding intermediaries and digital media to remove, alter, or disable any communication link, piece of content, or data.
In response, the government said, “The policies of the government are aimed at ensuring that the internet in India is open, safe, trusted, and accountable to all users. Accordingly, the government issues lawful directions for blocking access to information by the public under Section 69A of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 which provides power to the government to issue such directions if it is necessary or expedient to do so in the interest of sovereignty and integrity, defence of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign States or public order or for inciting cognisable offence relating to above.”
This is the breakdown of blocked posts/URLs by year and platform:
| YEAR | X-CORP | YOUTUBE | OTHERS | TOTAL | ||
| 2018 | 1555 | 379 | 224 | 161 | 480 | 2799 |
| 2019 | 2049 | 75 | 1041 | 409 | 61 | 3635 |
| 2020 | 1717 | 1273 | 2731 | 2175 | 1953 | 9849 |
| 2021 | 1082 | 464 | 2851 | 1141 | 580 | 6118 |
| 2022 | 1750 | 359 | 3423 | 939 | 464 | 6935 |
| 2023 | 2044 | 473 | 3390 | 934 | 661 | 7502 |
