Government Requests Surge, 2.44 Lakh Social Posts Removed in Five Months

Press Information Bureau's Fact Check unit reported that between March and July 2026, government departments requested social media platforms to remove approximately 2.44 lakh pieces of content under the IT Intermediaries Rules amended in February. The takedown time was reduced from 36 hours to three hours. Of these requests, 82% came from states and 51 thousand were related to scams by I4C (likely an acronym for a government entity). This period coincided with student protests over the NEET paper leak issue. The content removals involved transnational financial frauds, CSAM, and offenses against women and children. Meta, responding to reports of automated blocking, integrated its API with Sahyog in 2025 at Meta's request. (This story has not been edited by NDTV staff.