In the aftermath of the nationwide protest by the youth, especially after July 20, the Modi government has become ever more paranoid which is reflected in a fresh wave of online content being taken down arbitrarily by the multiple agencies and government departments empowered to go after the media. Instagram is coming under special scrutiny after the regime has realised how badly they are getting pummelled by Gen Z, Y and X in this space.

Censorship has assumed gargantuan proportions. Even basic procedures – such as giving a reasonable hearing to news platforms including The Wire, or YouTube journalists – are being observed in breach, as content is just disappearing without even so much as a routine notice. In some (very few) cases, notice is sent as a routine obligation before asking social platforms to remove videos.

The Indian government issues thousands of content blocking and takedown orders annually under Section 69A of the IT Act and the IT Rules, to say nothing of the takedowns through the Sahyog portal under Section 79(3)(b) of the Act and Rule 3(1)(d) of the 2021 Intermediary Guidelines. Documented blocking requests and orders have escalated sharply, scaling from roughly 6,000 annual orders to nearly 24,300 orders just under Section 69A by the end of 2025, alongside hundreds of thousands of suspicious items flagged or blocked by cybercrime and home affairs cells.

This situation seems to be worsening by the day, especially after the government stands totally exposed by the millions of protesting youth of the country.

Censorship on an unprecedented scale is normalised now even as there are pending cases before various high courts which have in the past stayed the provisions of the Information Technology Act 2021 which give the government unbridled emergency power to take down news content. Such powers are in violation of Article 19(1)(a) which guarantees free speech to all citizens and seeks to give a higher threshold of protection to news media.

While these cases are still being heard, the Union government has merrily brought more amendments to further seek powers to curb free speech via increasing compliance burdens on online news media. There is clearly an assault on media freedoms at multiple levels. This needs to be opposed by all those who think an independent and free media is an important pillar of democracy and is an indispensable source of information that enables the citizens to make an informed choice about the nature of governance they desire in an open and liberal polity.

This is our government; elected and accountable to us. It must resist its instinct to curb, clamp down on legitimate criticism, commentary and journalism. It must immediately pull back from all these moves to censor India.

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