The government's online content blocking orders have more than quadrupled in two years, with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology passing 24,300 orders in 2025 alone — up from 12,600 in 2024 and an average of 6,000 a year in 2023, The Indian Express has reported, citing senior ministry officials.
The surge is being driven by the explosion of AI-generated content and deepfakes on social media. Roughly 60% of all blocking orders are currently directed at X (formerly Twitter); 25% at Facebook and Instagram; and 5% at YouTube, officials told the Indian Express.
The blocking committee, which used to convene once a week, now holds virtual sittings several times a week. A senior official said the emergency clause of Section 69A — which allows a blocking order to be issued without a full committee sitting, subject to ratification within 48 hours — was being "increasingly used."
"With the explosion of AI posts and the flood of deep fakes, we are now frequently issuing blocking orders under the emergency clause," the official said. "Several requests also come to us from state governments for urgent intervention when a situation arises."
Orders peaked during Operation Sindoor in May 2025 and have remained "very high" since. More than half the complaints originated from nodal officers in the Home Ministry and the Ministry of External Affairs. Several orders targeted URLs of posts by political parties and politicians, the Indian Express reported.
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The most recent high-profile case involved Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who filed a written complaint with MeitY about deepfake videos of him.
"The fake content was apparently being generated from Pakistan and I am told, at least in India the fake content has been blocked," Tharoor told the Indian Express. On April 9, he had posted on X: "There are an alarming number of deepfake videos circulating of me, with convincing-sounding AI generated voice-overs over genuine footage of old interviews, having 'me' saying things I have never said."
The orders are passed under Section 69A of the IT Act, which empowers the government to block content on five grounds — sovereignty, defence, foreign relations, public order, and prevention of offences.
The government has historically withheld the full scale of such orders even from Parliament and under RTI.
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The Indian Express separately reported in March that inter-ministerial discussions are underway to extend blocking powers to four additional ministries — Home Affairs, External Affairs, Defence, and Information and Broadcasting — bypassing the current requirement to route all orders through MeitY.
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