Govt sent 2.98 lakh URLs for takedown between March-July, 82% from states

Multiple government departments asked social media platforms to take down 2.44 lakh content between March and July this year, an official note said on Thursday.

The government's fact-check body run by the Press Information Bureau termed as "misleading" an article claiming that Meta automated content blocking to comply with the government's three-hour takedown requirement.

"During the period from March 2026 to July 2026, around 2.98 lakh URLs were sent for takedown, out of which 2.44 lakhs were sent by states (82 per cent). Of these, 51 thousand URLs were sent by I4C in the context of cyber, infrastructure, and stock-investment scams," the PIB Fact Check account said on X.

It said the time limit for takedown of unlawful content was reduced to three hours from the earlier 36 hours through an amendment to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, in February 2026.

The details were shared by the PIB Fact Check account in response to recent reports on Meta automating content blocking to comply with the government's three-hour takedown requirement.

PIB Fact Check called the report misleading and said, "The API integration with Meta took place in 2025 at the request of Meta."

With around 600 million users in India posting up to 78,703 items every 68 seconds, it was, according to the fact-check unit, reasonable to expect that, on average, some of the content posted may be unlawful.

"The State and its instrumentalities cannot abdicate their responsibilities and allow free rein to lawlessness in cyberspace," it said.

The fact-check said that over the last two years, a majority of unlawful content intimated by the I4C related to transnational financial frauds, child sexual abuse material (CSAM), and offences against women and children.

It clarified that IT intermediaries act on intimations issued by competent authorities and that only authorised officers notified by the concerned ministry or state government can send intimations for takedown of unlawful content through the Sahyog portal.

"All such intimations are reviewed by the concerned governments periodically," it said.

The Sahyog portal enables states and central ministries to intimate IT intermediaries about unlawful content, the PIB Fact Check said.