On 13 March 2024, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C) was designated as an agency of the MHA to perform the functions under Section 79(3)(a). b) of the Information Technology Act of 2000. Photo file | Photo credit: i4c.mha.gov.in
Within a year of being empowered to directly issue takedown notices for online content, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued an average of about 290 such notices every day, according to MHA data.
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On 13 March 2024, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C) was designated as an agency of the MHA to perform the functions under Section 79(3)(a). b) of the Information Technology Act of 2000.
According to MHA’s 2024-25 annual report, published on Wednesday (March 25, 2026), by March 31, 2025, “1,11,185 suspicious online contents have been blocked under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act.”
Although § 79 para. 1 of the IT Act protects online platforms and social media intermediaries from legal liability for content published by users, in § 79 para. 3 lit. (b) of the IT Act states that the shield will not apply if they fail to remove the content despite being reported by government authorities.
Social media broker X challenged the provision and the Sahyog portal, which allows police across the country to send such notices through a common platform, in the Karnataka High Court, but the petition was dismissed by the court in 2025. The Hindu reported on 29 March 2025 that nearly a third of the 66 takedown notices sent to central union government agencies sought the removal of I4C content.
Social media platforms and other intermediaries are required to remove illegal content within three hours of receiving an order from a court of the relevant jurisdiction or a reasoned motion from the relevant government or its authority, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY) recently informed Parliament.
Apart from the MHA, there are other government departments that are authorized to issue takedown notices under the relevant section.
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Separately, on March 24, the MHA informed the Lok Sabha that the number of cyber security incidents reported in India has risen sharply over the past five years, according to data tracked by India’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), the national agency responsible for responding to cyber threats.
CERT-In, which operates under the provisions of Section 70B of the Information Technology Act, 2000, has recorded 29.44 million cyber security incidents in 2025, the highest number in the last five years. The number of such incidents was 20.41 million in 2024.
According to CERT-In, the highest number of reported cyber incidents are from the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
Published – 26 March 2026 21:01 IST
