New Delhi: The Centre is considering a major shift in how online content gets blocked in India. According to a report by Indian Express, multiple ministries
may soon get the power to directly send takedown orders to social media platforms, instead of routing everything through the IT Ministry.
This comes at a time when AI-generated content is growing fast and the volume of misleading posts is rising. The pressure on platforms has clearly gone up.
Govt plans to expand content blocking powers
Right now, only the IT Ministry can issue final blocking orders under Section 69A of the IT Act. Other ministries send requests, but the final call comes from one place.
That may soon change.
The government is discussing allowing ministries like: Home Affairs, External Affairs, Defence, and Information and Broadcasting to directly issue blocking orders to platforms like Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
As per the report, a senior official said, “We want to bring parity across both regimes. Like how using the Sahyog portal various agencies at the Central and state level can send blocking orders to social media companies, there is a growing feeling that the Section 69 (A) blocking process should also be similarly decentralised.”
Why the change is being considered
Officials say the current system is facing delays. Too many requests reach the IT Ministry, and action takes time.
Another official explained the issue, “What we are seeing increasingly happen due to the structure of the Section 69 (A) blocking process is a bottleneck at the IT Ministry.”
The idea now is to reduce this bottleneck and speed up content removal. There is also talk that regulators like SEBI may get similar powers. This is linked to concerns around financial misinformation shared by influencers online.
Faster takedowns and rising concerns
The timing is important. The government has already reduced content blocking timelines from 24 to 36 hours down to just 2 to 3 hours.
That is a big shift.
But users have started noticing something else. Even satirical or critical posts are getting flagged or removed faster. Platforms are increasing compliance to avoid penalties.
