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New Delhi: The Union government has invoked Section 69A of the Information Technology Act to block multiple social media posts critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his foreign policy.

The takedowns coincide with a broader wave of blocking orders over the past month, which users report also targeted accounts criticising the University Grants Commission’s Equity Regulations. Because the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issues these directives under strict confidentiality, evidence of the censorship has emerged directly from users publishing their takedown notices.

Comprehensive statistics are not available due to this confidentiality. However, according to this report by The Hindu, the most up-to-date data from Meta shows that the parent company of Instagram and Facebook took down three times as much content in response to government orders between January and June 2025 than in the same period in 2023. X does not currently publish transparency reports for government takedowns.

On March 10, 2026, cartoonist Satish Acharya stated that X withheld two of his cartoons depicting India-Iran relations and the United States. The first cartoon, titled “India-Iran dosti is as old as history!”, depicted Modi blindfolded alongside a body labelled “Killed by USA & Israel”. The second showed a figure wearing a US flag hat with the caption, “Iran’s Irisdena ship returning from naval exercise in India destroyed by US submarine”.

“Though this government has lots of ‘tejaswi log’ [brilliant people], let me share a pro-tip,” Acharya stated. “My experience for the last 15 years on social media teaches me that whenever any government or politician tries to stop a cartoon by force, that cartoon normally reaches 10 times more readers.”

A review of the notices shared by users shows that the government targeted a wide array of content, ranging from satirical memes to opposition political commentary. The notices sent by X advise users that while the platform is legally obligated to withhold the content in India, users wishing to........

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