New Delhi: Between March and July, there was one blocking order every 68 seconds, on an average, for online content by the government in India. This amounts to around 1,275 every day, nearly 1.95 lakh in just five months, according to a report by The Indian Express.
There has been a surge in blocking orders issued by the Union government to restrict online content sent to Instagram, Facebook and YouTube this year at a time when students across the country were protesting against exam leaks, with the biggest protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar in June and July.
This is compared to a total of 2,312 blocking orders between October 2024 and October 2025 to 19 online platforms sent through the Sahyog portal, translating to a daily average of six such orders a day, according to data accessed through an Right to Information (RTI) filing by Express last year.
While a monthly break-up wasn’t available, per the report, a senior government official said that a “considerable share” of the blocking orders were issued during the protests as they gathered momentum, particularly on Instagram.
The Wire has also reported how in the aftermath of the youth protests, especially after July 20, when Delhi Police violently resisted the protesters, the Modi government has issued a wave of orders for online content to be taken down by the multiple agencies and government departments that have been empowered to go after the media.
Meta-owned Instagram has especially come under scrutiny after the regime has realised how badly they are getting pummelled by Gen Z, Y and X in this space.
Per the Express report, too, of the three platforms, Instagram accounted for the largest share of these government directions during March-July, receiving nearly 1 lakh blocking orders during the five-month period, more than half of the total.
Meanwhile, Facebook received around 80,000 orders and YouTube about 15,000.
A majority of the blocking orders were issued through the Union home ministry’s Sahyog portal – a platform developed to send such notices – under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act, 2000, by various Union and state agencies.
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