India blocks thousands of web pages and accounts a year under confidential orders, had banned 652 apps by March 2026, TikTok among them, and in 2025 ordered more internet shutdowns than any country but Myanmar.
Every day we open 67 of the world’s biggest sites and apps from home internet connections in India, and record what’s blocked, since when and how.
2 of 67 testedsites and apps with a confirmed block in India
67 of 67 results confirmed in the last 48 hours.
Tests are requested on Jio and Airtel home connections. 2 of them on only some networks.
The central government orders blocks under Section 69A of the IT Act, which allows them in the interest of India’s sovereignty, defence, security, friendly relations with foreign states or public order. The 2009 Blocking Rules keep the orders “strictly confidential”, and platforms that don’t comply face fines and prison terms of up to seven years. The IT minister told Parliament that 7,502 accounts, websites and URLs were restricted under Section 69A in 2023.
Since October 2024 police forces and ministries have also sent takedown notices through Sahyog, a Home Ministry portal that relies on Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act, under which platforms lose their legal protection if they don’t remove unlawful content after a government notice. X called it a “censorship portal” that bypasses Section 69A’s safeguards, but the Karnataka High Court dismissed X’s challenge in September 2025, calling the portal “an instrument of public good”.
App bans began on 29 June 2020 with TikTok, WeChat and 57 other apps, and by March 2026 the government had blocked 652, mainly Chinese-owned apps plus gambling and loan apps. After the April 2025 Pahalgam attack, India blocked 16 Pakistani YouTube channels, including Dawn News and Geo News, and Pakistani celebrities’ Instagram accounts; during the conflict that followed, it told X to withhold about 8,000 accounts and blocked the Indian news site The Wire for a day.
Internet shutdowns are ordered locally, during protests, unrest and even exams: Access Now counted 65 in India in 2025, second only to Myanmar, and the SFLC.in tracker logged new ones in central Delhi in October 2026. In June 2026 the government blocked Telegram nationwide for a week over leaked NEET exam papers, and in July 2026 officials were reported to be planning a law that could require VPN companies to keep offices and compliance staff in India.
Are VPNs legal in India?
Using a VPN is legal in India, but CERT-In directions in force since September 2022 require VPN providers to keep customers’ names, IP addresses and other details for at least five years, and several providers pulled their servers out of India. In July 2026 the government was reported to be planning a law that could require VPN companies to open offices in India.
Key dates
The government blocks Telegram nationwide for a week over leaked NEET exam papers; the Delhi High Court upholds the order on 19 June.
The Karnataka High Court dismisses X’s challenge to Sahyog, the Home Ministry portal used to send takedown notices to platforms.
During the conflict with Pakistan, the government tells X to withhold about 8,000 accounts and blocks The Wire’s website for a day.
CERT-In rules take effect requiring VPN providers to keep customers’ names, IP addresses and other details for at least five years.
India bans TikTok, WeChat and 57 other apps under Section 69A, citing sovereignty, defence, security and public order.
Get past a block
Blocked in India?
A VPN connects you through a server in another country, so the blocks in India no longer apply. Where VPNs themselves are blocked, you need one that can disguise its traffic.
NordVPN
Our top pick
Obfuscated servers for networks that block VPNs
Connects you through a server in another country
Encrypts what your internet provider could otherwise see
Test machines on Jio and Airtel home connections open each site’s homepage every day.
A failure counts only when it happens twice on the same network, while the site opens from other countries.
A change is published only after re-checks a few hours later and again the next day, on several machines per provider, confirm it. It’s dated from the first sighting.
Test machines caught getting around blocks, through a VPN or a filter-dodging tool, are set aside.
We test websites, mostly over home broadband. Apps, calls and mobile networks can behave differently.
Yes. Freedom House notes that VPN use remains legal, but CERT-In directions from April 2022 make VPN providers keep customers’ names, contact details, IP addresses and purpose of use for at least five years. Corporate and enterprise VPNs are exempt, and several consumer providers withdrew their servers from India.
Is X (Twitter) Banned in India?
No, but the government regularly orders it to withhold accounts and posts. In May 2025, during the conflict with Pakistan, it told X to block about 8,000 accounts, and in September 2025 the Karnataka High Court dismissed X’s challenge to the portal the government uses to send takedown notices.
How Many Apps Has India Banned?
India had blocked 652 apps by March 2026, the IT minister told Parliament. The bans began on 29 June 2020 with TikTok, WeChat and 57 other apps, followed by 47 more that July, 118 in September and 43 in November 2020, 54 in February 2022 and 232 gambling and betting apps in February 2023.
