Media Nama: National: Saturday, 7th November
2026.
On average, the Gujarat
Police flagged one URL every six minutes through the Centre’s censorship facilitator, the Sahyog
Portal, possibly since its launch in October 2024, according to a Right to
Information (RTI) reply shared with MediaNama. The person who filed the RTI
application has requested anonymity.
This means that, on average:
The RTI reply, dated October 28, 2026, followed a second appeal to the Cyber Centre of Excellence, which operates under the Office of the Inspector General of Police, Gujarat.
What was asked:
The RTI application asked the Gujarat Home Department to disclose the total number of takedown notices issued to intermediaries under Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology (IT) Act or Rule 3(1)(d) of the IT Rules, 2021. It also sought copies of these notices and specifically asked how many had been sent through the Sahyog Portal.
The application was filed with the Gujarat Home Department on June 17, 2026. It was transferred to the Cyber Centre of Excellence following an order by the First Appellate Authority and was finally answered on October 28, 2026.
Center’s Sahyog Portal itself doesn’t hold takedown records, reveals another RTI reply
In another RTI reply to MediaNama, the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), which operates the portal, said it does not maintain records of notices issued through it. I4C said that these records are held by State and Union Territory police departments. Gujarat has now disclosed an aggregate figure without citing any RTI exemption.
This could mean that individual State police departments should also be able to disclose the number of takedown notices issued through the Sahyog Portal. MediaNama will file RTI applications with each State police department and publish the responses as and when they are received.
Brief context on Sahyog Portal:
The MHA’s I4C created the portal to automate notices issued under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act. In a submission to the Karnataka High Court, the government said the portal displays each agency’s total requests, the content taken down, and the number of closed and pending requests.
“As per screenshots attached with the Government’s response, the portal contains a dashboard which shows Central ministries/departments along with States, and the total number of requests they have sent out. It also shows them the total pieces of content that platforms have taken down, the number of requests closed and the number of requests pending. The dashboard also provides a platform-wide breakdown of requests and the status of said requests.
X challenged the portal, arguing that the government uses it to bypass the safeguards under Section 69A, which governs blocking orders. The Karnataka High Court upheld the portal. The Supreme Court has since stayed all previous High Court judgments in the case.
This means that, on average:
- Around 261 URLs were flagged per day, equivalent to roughly one URL every six minutes.
- Around 7.34 notices were issued per day.
- Each notice covered around 36 URLs.
The RTI reply, dated October 28, 2026, followed a second appeal to the Cyber Centre of Excellence, which operates under the Office of the Inspector General of Police, Gujarat.
What was asked:
The RTI application asked the Gujarat Home Department to disclose the total number of takedown notices issued to intermediaries under Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology (IT) Act or Rule 3(1)(d) of the IT Rules, 2021. It also sought copies of these notices and specifically asked how many had been sent through the Sahyog Portal.
The application was filed with the Gujarat Home Department on June 17, 2026. It was transferred to the Cyber Centre of Excellence following an order by the First Appellate Authority and was finally answered on October 28, 2026.
Center’s Sahyog Portal itself doesn’t hold takedown records, reveals another RTI reply
In another RTI reply to MediaNama, the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), which operates the portal, said it does not maintain records of notices issued through it. I4C said that these records are held by State and Union Territory police departments. Gujarat has now disclosed an aggregate figure without citing any RTI exemption.
This could mean that individual State police departments should also be able to disclose the number of takedown notices issued through the Sahyog Portal. MediaNama will file RTI applications with each State police department and publish the responses as and when they are received.
Brief context on Sahyog Portal:
The MHA’s I4C created the portal to automate notices issued under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act. In a submission to the Karnataka High Court, the government said the portal displays each agency’s total requests, the content taken down, and the number of closed and pending requests.
“As per screenshots attached with the Government’s response, the portal contains a dashboard which shows Central ministries/departments along with States, and the total number of requests they have sent out. It also shows them the total pieces of content that platforms have taken down, the number of requests closed and the number of requests pending. The dashboard also provides a platform-wide breakdown of requests and the status of said requests.
X challenged the portal, arguing that the government uses it to bypass the safeguards under Section 69A, which governs blocking orders. The Karnataka High Court upheld the portal. The Supreme Court has since stayed all previous High Court judgments in the case.
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