Centre may give power to more ministries to direct social media content-blocking orders: report

India’s central government is considering a proposal to allow multiple ministries to issue content-blocking orders directly to social media platforms under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, according to a report in The Indian Express.

At present, only the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has the authority to issue such orders. However, the proposed move could extend these powers to ministries including the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

If implemented, the change would impact major technology platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, which could begin receiving takedown directives from a wider set of government agencies.

The report said inter-ministerial discussions are under way to amend the existing framework, with officials citing the rapid rise of AI-generated misleading content as a key reason for the proposed shift.

Sources indicated that the scope of the proposal may also be expanded to include regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Board of India, which has raised concerns about the spread of inaccurate financial information by online influencers.

Currently, India operates two parallel mechanisms for content regulation. Under Section 69A, content deemed a threat to national security, sovereignty or public order is routed through nodal officers to MeitY, which issues the final blocking order after due process. Separately, under Section 79(3)(b) of the Act, ministries can directly issue takedown requests through systems such as the Home Ministry-led Sahyog portal.

Officials were quoted by The Indian Express stating that the proposed changes aim to “bring parity” between these frameworks by decentralising the blocking process and enabling faster action.

The move comes amid increasing pressure on social media companies to act swiftly on flagged content. Recently, the government reduced compliance timelines for takedown requests from 24–36 hours to as little as two to three hours.

However, users have also raised concerns over potential overreach, with some claiming that posts critical of the government or satirical in nature have been removed as platforms step up compliance efforts.

Section 69A empowers the government to restrict public access to information in the interest of sovereignty, security, public order and the prevention of incitement to offences. At present, even in emergency situations, the final order to block content must be issued by MeitY.

Officials cited by the Express said the existing system has led to a bottleneck, with the IT Ministry receiving a high volume of requests from various agencies. The proposed decentralisation is intended to ease this burden and enable quicker decision-making on content moderation.