India expands censorship powers, lets lower officials demand takedowns

New Delhi, India — On February 15, thousands of men, women and children scrambled to committee trains astatine New Delhi railway station, bound for the pilgrimage metropolis of Prayagraj, which was playing big to the Kumbh Mela festival, 1 of Hinduism’s holiest gatherings.

A deadly stampede followed, and 18 radical died.

Yet, successful the aftermath, India’s Ministry of Railways did not lone absorption connected rescue efforts, investigations into assemblage absorption and compensation for families of victims. It had different concern, too: warring societal media posts that criticised the authorities implicit the incident.

The ministry utilized a authorities level known arsenic Sahyog to contented notices to a scope of societal media companies, including Meta and Google, which owns YouTube, demanding they propulsion down posts that the Indian authorities deemed detrimental to instrumentality and order. Most platforms complied: the authorities has threatened that those who bash not, hazard losing what is known arsenic their “intermediary immunity” status, which shields them from ineligible liability for the contented posted connected their sites.

Until precocious past year, specified takedown notices were issued solely by 2 national ministries: the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (IT), and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B).

But successful October 2024, the authorities of Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Sahyog platform, extending the powerfulness to contented takedown demands to each national and authorities authorities agencies, and adjacent district-level officials and the police.

Since then, officers astatine these aggregate levels of authorities and bureaucracy person sought the removal of contented from 3,465 URLs successful India, successful astir 300 demands they person submitted done Sahyog, information obtained by Al Jazeera done the country’s Right to Information Act reveals.

It is aboriginal days, and these numbers are not yet huge, but analysts accidental they constituent to however the tentacles of India’s censorship apparatus are spreading deeper, astatine a clip erstwhile the state is already facing increasing questions implicit its alleged crackdown connected nationalist speech.

Al Jazeera sought responses from the IT and I&B ministries to allegations of deepening censorship, but has not yet received a response.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk meets Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, successful Washington, DC, US, connected February 13, 2025 [@narendramodi/X via Reuters]

Inside expanding online censorship

Historically, officials astatine the IT and I&B ministries person relied connected Section 69a of the Information Technology Act, 2000, to request that societal platforms propulsion down content.

Section 69a authorises the authorities to artifact nationalist entree to immoderate online information, citing the country’s sovereignty, security, nationalist order, oregon akin grounds, by issuing takedown orders to intermediary companies.

The authorities has drawn mounting disapproval successful caller years for a deficiency of transparency successful issuing takedown orders, and has been challenged repeatedly successful court. In 2 judgements – successful 2015 and 2020 – the Supreme Court of India upheld the constitutionality of Section 69a, but stressed that blocking orders indispensable beryllium narrowly tailored, taxable to procedural safeguards, and not utilized to enforce broad restrictions.

With Sahyog, the Modi authorities has turned to a caller ineligible provision: Section 79 of the IT Act.

The caller level operates nether Section 79(3)(b), which states that intermediaries (tech companies) would suffer immunity if they neglect to region unlawful contented upon authorities notification.

Tech argumentation observers and lawyers constituent retired that since this proviso has not yet been reviewed by courts, utilizing it allows the authorities to wholly circumvent the safeguards established by the Supreme Court for Section 69a.

The authorities has made it mandatory for each societal media platforms to articulation Sahyog and name an worker tasked with acting connected demands for takedowns. So far, astatine slightest 72 companies person onboarded the centralised authorities platform, including Meta’s WhatsApp and Instagram, Apple, LinkedIn, Google, Telegram, and Snapchat, said Manish Garg, the manager of the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), a assemblage nether India’s Ministry of Home Affairs.

A squad of I4C officials manages the Sahyog platform, Garg replied successful a Right to Information petition to Al Jazeera.

But X, owned by Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has not joined the platform, and has alternatively taken the Modi authorities to tribunal successful a suit that fiercely argues that Sahyog is simply a “censorship portal” and that the Indian medication is clamping down connected state of speech.

“Despite [court’s directions] that the ‘power to artifact for entree by the nationalist tin beryllium exercised lone successful exceptional circumstances’ nether Section 69a with checks and balances, [the government] enabled countless enforcement officers and constabulary to usage Section 79(3)(b) freely and routinely to restrict code with nary checks and balances,” X has said successful its tribunal filings.

“Thousands of unnamed officers are empowered to unilaterally determine that accusation is ‘unlawful’ and artifact it successful each of India,” X argues.

Still, adjacent though X has not joined Sahyog, authorities agencies nonstop the institution requests for takedowns done the platform. Often, the request has thing to bash with perceived nationalist information concerns.

In April this year, a district-level constabulary serviceman successful the eastbound Indian authorities of Bihar issued a announcement to X seeking the removal of posts from a antheral who had alleged corruption by a section official.

The X idiosyncratic whose station drew the takedown bid was not informed, until Al Jazeera reached retired to him for remark successful September. His sanction is being withheld connected his request. X did not enactment connected the demand, and the station is inactive up.

Musk’s platform, though, is an outlier.

Mishi Choudhary, a exertion lawyer and laminitis of the New Delhi-based Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC), said that the sanction Sahyog (Hindi for “collaboration”) “itself gives distant what has been happening for years: adjacent coordination betwixt enforcement and platforms, who person go complicit successful ensuring that censorship works good portion parroting escaped code rhetoric worldwide”.

The caller level is simply the latest determination by the Modi authorities to grow censorship powers, she said. “Appointing constabulary officers results successful unbridled discretion and opens the doorway to unchecked censorship,” Choudhary told Al Jazeera.

Like X, the SFLC has besides challenged Sahyog’s constitutionality successful the Delhi High Court.

Indian paramilitary soldiers inspect a nonmigratory successful Srinagar connected May 11, 2025 [Sajjad Hussain/AFP]

Kashmir hostilities worsen woes

Since Modi came to powerfulness successful 2014, takedown orders issued by the Indian authorities were connected the emergence adjacent earlier the instauration of Sahyog. By 2022, the orders roseate 14-fold – from 471 successful 2014 to 6,775 successful 2022.

These were demands made by the Indian authorities nether Section 69a. Data aft 2022 has been denied nether the Right to Information Act. Al Jazeera’s petition successful July this twelvemonth was rejected, citing a nationalist information exemption.

But portion the Supreme Court has ruled connected – and laid down rules for the usage of – Section 69a, determination are nary safeguards successful spot for the usage of Section 79, pointed retired Tanmay Singh, a lawyer astatine the Supreme Court, who has antecedently worked connected respective censorship-related cases.

And that is the proviso that Sahyog relies connected – opening up a parallel censorship mechanism, adjacent arsenic the authorities has continued to usage Section 69a, too.

Since Sahyog became operational successful October past year, done June this year, antithetic authorities agencies issued 294 takedown requests. In the past 3 months of 2024, determination were 25 takedown orders issued done the Sahyog platform, including 87 URLs. In the six months this year, until June, the numbers roseate by 269 much takedown orders, including 3,276 URLs.

Orders nether some mechanisms – Sections 69a and 79 – are alike, and spelled alike, citing akin laws. “It’s similar having 2 antithetic types of cooking pans. A deeper 1 for broths and a shallow 1 for disturbance fry,” said a lawyer engaged successful the ongoing suit betwixt X and the Modi government.

“You tin usage some to navigator interchangeably arsenic well, but it’s based connected your convenience.”

The usage of some provisions roseate successful the aftermath of the heightened tensions betwixt India and Pakistan successful April and May, aft an onslaught successful Indian-administered Kashmir killed 26 civilians.

New Delhi targeted online platforms and societal media accounts linked to Pakistan and ordered a wide takedown and blocking of accounts – respective of them of Pakistani journalists, quality outlets and celebrities – crossed each large societal media platforms.

Alongside them were respective salient Indian journalists and planetary quality outlets, including Reuters. On May 8, Aslah Kayyalakkath, the editor-in-chief astatine Maktoob, an autarkic quality outlet successful India focused connected communities marginalised successful the look of rising Hindu nationalism, was informed by 1 of his readers that their relationship connected X was inaccessible successful India.

“We stay wholly successful the acheronian astir the reasons down the move, arsenic nary 1 has informed america oregon offered immoderate mentation astir the circumstantial contented that triggered this action,” Kayyalakkath told Al Jazeera.

In a connection connected May 8, X said the institution has received enforcement orders from the Indian authorities to artifact much than 8,000 accounts successful India, oregon look important fines and imprisonment of the company’s section employees.

“The orders see demands to artifact entree successful India to accounts belonging to planetary quality organizations and salient X users,” the institution said, adding that successful astir cases, the Indian authorities did not specify immoderate grounds oregon justification to artifact the accounts.

Anuradha Bhasin, the managing exertion of the regular Kashmir Times, was successful the US erstwhile her relationship was blocked successful India. She work the quality but lone realised the prohibition included her erstwhile a person successful India confirmed it.

“These blocking orders of de-platforming content, of blocking quality websites, are becoming much and much brazen and common,” Bhasin told Al Jazeera.

Last month, the Indian authorities banned 25 books successful Indian-administered Kashmir, saying that works similar those by Booker Prize-winning writer Arundhati Roy propagated “false narratives” and “secessionism” successful the contested Muslim-majority region. It included Bhasin’s A Dismantled State: The Untold Story of Kashmir After Article 370.

While Bhasin and Kayyalakkath were targeted nether Section 69a, the authorities besides ramped up its usage of the Sahyog level amid the situation with Pakistan. Since the platform’s launch, and until April 8, antithetic authorities bodies issued 130 takedown orders done Sahyog.

In little than 3 months aft that, until June 30, different 164 orders were issued.

The Twitter logo rebranded arsenic X and the aged vertebrate logo reflected successful smartphone screens, successful Paris connected July 27, 2023 [Joel Saget/AFP]

‘No consciousness of humour’

While Sahyog is the brainchild of the Modi government, X’s tribunal filings amusement however the constabulary successful opposition-governed states, similar West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, person besides leveraged the model’s expansive nature.

Koustav Bagchi, a lawyer astatine Calcutta High Court and a spokesperson of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, is simply a professional of the authorities government, governed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress.

Bagchi often takes digs astatine her, and successful 1 lawsuit successful March, helium posted an representation connected X that depicted Banerjee successful an astronaut suit. He was mocking the main curate implicit comments she had made earlier, suggesting that Sunita Williams, an Indian-origin NASA astronaut, beryllium fixed India’s highest civilian honour. The authorities constabulary ordered the blocking of the post, citing “risks to nationalist information and nationalist security”.

X did not enactment connected the demand. “I was not alert of this until I was called by a newsman for this 2 months ago,” Bagchi told Al Jazeera. “The authorities conscionable doesn’t person immoderate consciousness of humour. What other is determination to say?”