Govt of India blocks 30,310 URLs, channels, apps, web pages, social media accounts in last five years

NEW DELHI: The Government of India has blocked 30,310 web properties since 2018 till March 15, 2023. The blocking directions have been given for URLs, including social media URLs, accounts, channels, pages, apps, web pages, websites etc.

Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Pradyut Bordoloi disclosed this to the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Responding to a set of starred questions, the minister said that the Section 69A of Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 provided power to the government to issue directions for blocking for access of information if it was 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 cognizable offence relating to above.

He said the Government followed due process as envisaged in the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information for Public) Rules, 2009.

When asked the whether the Government had notified the list of authorities that could order intermediaries to take down content, the minister replied in the affirmative, saying: “The Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information for Public) Rules, 2009 identifies the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and ‘The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021’ identifies Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to issue blocking directions, if the information infringes the provisions specified in the section 69A of IT Act, 2000.”

On the question of the number of notices served on the originators of the content, and intermediaries to take down the content and also the total number of takedown requests that came from the various nodal officers in various ministries, Bordoloi disclosed: “Since 2018 till March 15, 2023, the Committee constituted under Rule 7 and Rule 14 of the Rules, examined a total of 41,172 URLs that were received from nodal officers in various ministries, departments, States for blocking under section 69A of IT Act 2000.”

Notices were given to respective intermediaries for all such URLs, 48 hours prior to the meeting. In the case of websites, notices were given based on the contact details published on their website.