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.
As of 13 Nov 2026, vpnAlert’s daily test finds none of the 67 sites and apps it tracks blocked in India.
By the vpnAlert team · Background checked on 23 Oct 2026 · Tested every day since 29 Sep 2026 ·
How we test · Report a wrong result
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.
0 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.
India’s blocking orders under Section 69A of the IT Act are confidential, so most rounds are known from government announcements or press reports. The IT ministry told Parliament in March 2026 that it had blocked 652 apps under the law; the rounds below don’t add up to that, because agencies count differently.
BitChat. Apple removed the offline Bluetooth messenger from its India App Store on an IT ministry order under Section 69A.
Telegram. Blocked nationwide until 22 June over leaked NEET exam papers; the Delhi High Court upheld it on 19 June.
300+ apps. Sports betting, online casino and satta sites and apps blocked in the crackdown that followed the 2025 Online Gaming Act.
25 apps, including ULLU, ALTT and Desiflix. The I&B ministry had 25 streaming platforms blocked for obscene content, bringing its total since March 2024 to 43.
3,000+ apps. Google was told to remove VPN, Islamic religious, streaming, AI and utility apps, many from Pakistani developers.
119 apps, including ChillChat, ChangApp and HoneyCam. Mostly video and voice chat apps linked to China and Hong Kong; only 15 were withheld by 20 February.
10 apps, including Dreams Films, Voovi and Yessma. The I&B ministry blocked 18 streaming platforms for obscene content: 10 apps, 19 websites and 57 social accounts.
22 apps, including Mahadev Book and Reddyannaprestopro. Illegal betting apps and websites blocked at the Enforcement Directorate’s request after its raids on Mahadev Book.
14 apps, including IMO, Element and Threema. Encrypted and peer-to-peer messengers reportedly blocked for use by militants in Jammu and Kashmir; no order was published.
232 apps. 138 betting and 94 loan apps, many with Chinese links, blocked urgently at the Home Ministry’s request.
Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI). Krafton’s Indian successor to PUBG Mobile pulled from Google Play and the App Store on a government order.
54 apps, including Free Fire, Tencent Xriver and Onmyoji Arena. Mostly rebranded versions of apps banned in 2020, from Tencent, Alibaba and NetEase; Free Fire was the best known.
43 apps, including AliExpress, Alibaba Workbench and Taobao Live. Shopping, dating and video apps, Alibaba’s AliExpress and DingTalk among them, blocked on Home Ministry cybercrime reports.
118 apps, including PUBG Mobile, PUBG Mobile Lite and Baidu. The government’s second announced order, taking in PUBG Mobile, Baidu, Alipay and many games and utilities.
47 apps, including TikTok Lite, Helo Lite and Shareit Lite. Mostly clones and lite versions of the apps banned in June; there was no official announcement.
59 apps, including TikTok, WeChat and UC Browser. The first of the big app bans, citing user data sent to servers abroad and threats to sovereignty and security.
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 ministry told Parliament that 7,502 accounts, websites and URLs were restricted under Section 69A in the first ten months of 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.
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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.
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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 ministry 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 138 betting and 94 loan apps in February 2023.
Is TikTok Still Banned in India?
Yes. India banned TikTok on 29 June 2020 and kept the ban in January 2021. When its website briefly loaded for some users in August 2025, the government said it had issued no order to lift the ban, and in September 2025 the IT minister said there was “absolutely no proposal” to bring TikTok back.
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As of 13 Nov 2026, 0 of the 67 sites and apps in the vpnAlert Censorship Monitor are blocked in India.
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