Within a year of getting powers, MHA agency issued 290 takedown notices a day on average for online content

MHA issued an average of 290 daily takedown notices in 2024-25, blocking over 111,000 suspicious online content instances.

Within a year of being empowered to directly issue takedown notices for online content, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued an average of about 290 such notices every day, according to MHA data.

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On March 13, 2024, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) was designated as the MHA’s agency to perform the functions under Section 79 (3) (b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

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.”

Though Section 79(1) of the IT Act shields online platforms and social media intermediaries from legal liability for content posted by users, 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.

Social media intermediary X had challenged this provision and the Sahyog portal, which enables police across the country to send such notices through a common platform, in the Karnataka High Court, but the petition was turned down by the court in 2025. The Hindu reported on March 29, 2025, that nearly a third of the 66 takedown notices sent to X by the I4C sought the removal of content about Union Ministers and Central government agencies.