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New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is now able to directly ensure takedowns of news, analysis, comedy, satire or commentary (loosely dubbed as ‘content’) from the internet. A year on, after having acquired the power to censor, The Hindu has cited the ministry’s own figures to demonstrate that on an average, every day, it issues 290 takedown orders.

The newspaper writes that according to the MHA’s annual report for the year 2024-25, published on Wednesday (March 25, 2026), till March 31, 2025, “1,11,185 suspicious online content has been blocked under Section 79(3)(b) of IT Act.” You can access the ministry’s annual report here.

Section 79(1) of the IT Act is meant to shield online portals as well as social media intermediaries (tech companies like X, Meta and YouTube) from legal liability for content posted by users, but Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act says that the shield will not apply if they fail to take down the content despite being flagged by government authorities.

Also, with the Sahyog portal, a website meant for a spectrum of government agencies to issue takedowns, being hosted by the MHA, it gives Amit Shah’s ministry near-total control of the internet. As reported by The Wire earlier, it is no longer just the remit of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) or Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to flag and ask for takedowns of what is deemed inappropriate. The Sahyog portal allows for bulk takedowns and almost automating the procedure pressurising “intermediaries” to censor content.

That the Sahyog portal is a case of executive overreach has been taken up by X in the courts.

The Sahyog portal has been developed by the MHA’s Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C). Before this, written orders stating reasons, notice to the affected party, and review by a judicial committee were needed for blocking content.

On February 10, MeitY notified the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2026, that cuts down the takedown timelines for all content from 24-36 hours to three hours. There are reports that the timeline is being further shrunk to one hour. Critics have pointed out how takedowns like this, executed by the MHA, are essentially a new and formal censorship regime having been put in place stealthily.

© The Wire