March to July, Government sent one blocking order to social media firms every minute

One blocking order, on an average, every 68 seconds. Around 1,275 every day. Nearly 1.95 lakh in just five months. That was the surge in state-backed directions seeking to restrict online content sent to Instagram, Facebook and YouTube between March and July this year, according to data accessed by The Indian Express. Significantly, this period included the students’ protests against exam leaks at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, which began in early June and was called off on July 25 following the resignation of then Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. To put this sharp rise in perspective, RTI records obtained by The Indian Express last year showed that between October 2024 and October 2025, a total of 2,312 blocking orders were sent to 19 online platforms through the Sahyog portal, translating to a daily average of six such orders a day.