New Delhi: Several X handles critical of the Union government have been withheld in India since Wednesday night (March 18). These included popular parody accounts @Nehr_who, @DrNimoYadav, @indian_armada and @DuckKiBaat; that of journalist and activist Sandeep Singh, (@ActivistSandeep); as well as of Manish RJ (@mrjethwani_) and Dr. Ranjan (@Doc_RGM).A message on all these pages now reads: “Account withheld in IN in response to a legal demand.”While it is not yet clear what led to the latest orders, these are accounts that have been critical of the Union government’s treatment of minorities, the Israel-US war on Iran and India’s LPG crisis, among other issues, in their posts and in the form of satirical cartoons. There has been a spurt of takedowns recently against accounts critical of the prime minister or the government, particularly in the wake of the PM’s awkwardly timed visit to Israel, his silence over the US-Israeli attack on Iran, the assassination of its leader and the US sinking of an Iranian naval ship not far from India.In a statement on Thursday (March 19), the Internet Freedom Foundation also expressed concern over the continuing reports of posts and accounts being withheld in India.“The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) is concerned by continuing reports of posts and accounts being withheld in India on Facebook, X and Instagram, including satire and criticism of the government. Recent reporting shows users receiving generic “withheld in India” notices or emails under Section 69A from social media platforms, with little or no explanation, while independent reporting has documented takedowns affecting speech that appears political, satirical, or critical rather than clearly unlawful,” it said.IFF statement against the Alarming Escalation of Social Media Censorship and Proposed Expansion of Takedown PowersNew Delhi, March 19, 2026The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) is concerned by continuing reports of posts and accounts being withheld in India on Facebook, X and…— Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) (@internetfreedom) March 19, 2026The latest blocking order has drawn criticism from several journalists, politicians and other users on the Elon Musk-led social media platform. Prateek Waghre, a public policy researcher and former executive director of IFF, also noted that there has been an uptick in account-level restrictions on X.“We seem to be in a fresh mini-wave of restrictions/suspensions. Seem to be more account-level restrictions rather than tweets. Continuing to document these (and other instances I’ve come across since 2026-03-11). Have 42 instances as of now,” he said on X.We seem to be in a fresh mini-wave of restrictions/suspensions. Seem to be more account-level restrictions rather than tweets. Continuing to document these (and other instances I’ve come across since 2026-03-11). Have 42 instances as of now (there maybe some duplication).👇 https://t.co/bNAvzpV47j— Prateek Waghre (@prateekwaghre) March 19, 2026Congress leader and party’s social media department head, Supriya Shrinate called the move “unacceptable”.“From content being randomly blocked and deleted, now social media accounts are being withheld in India. @Nher_who @DrNimoYadav @ActivistSandeep @mrjethwani_ @indian_armada @Doc_RGM @DuckKiBaat are the latest among several others to be withheld. This is unacceptable. Coward PM,” she wrote on X.From content being randomly blocked and deleted, now social media accounts are being withheld in India@Nher_who @DrNimoYadav @ActivistSandeep @mrjethwani_ @indian_armada @Doc_RGM@DuckKiBaatare the latest among several others to be withheldThis is unacceptableCoward PM— Supriya Shrinate (@SupriyaShrinate) March 19, 2026PunsterX, an anonymous satire account with over 2.6 million followers, said it “looks like a massive clean-up drive of anti-establishment accounts.”Accounts withheld in India last night:1. @Nher_who2. @DrNimoYadav3. @ActivistSandeep4. @mrjethwani_5. @indian_armadaLooks like a massive clean-up drive of anti-establishment accounts. pic.twitter.com/XfiP5tSOGi— PunsterX (@PunsterX) March 19, 2026Political content creator Arpit Sharma wrote, “Many Instagram Reels criticising the gov are being withheld in India, Many X posts critical of gov are being withheld in India, Is this what Democracy looks like?”X Accounts of @DrNimoYadav & @Nher_who has been withheld in India,Many Instagram Reels criticising the gov are being withheld in India,Many X posts critical of gov are being withheld in India,Is this what Democracy looks like? pic.twitter.com/PtrMschDDM— Arpit Sharma (@iArpitSpeaks) March 19, 2026There has been a spurt of takedowns recently against accounts critical of the prime minister or the government, particularly in the wake of the PM’s awkwardly timed visit to Israel, his silence over the US-Israeli attack on Iran, the assassination of its leader and the US sinking of an Iranian naval ship not far from India. The Wire recently reported about how the Union government has been invoking Section 69A of the Information Technology Act to block multiple social media posts that appear to have one thing in common: they mock, lampoon or are otherwise sharply critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his policies, mannerisms – and evasions.Just a few days ago, a video posted by @Doc_RGM mocking Modi for not wanting to share a copy of his degrees with the public was ordered blocked. Now, the account itself has been withheld.On February 28, 2026, a post of one of The Wire’s satirical animated cartoons about Prime Minister Narendra Modi being awarded an invented medal during his Israel visit and Knesset speech, presented humorously, too was similarly “withheld” on X. This was days after The Wire’s Instagram account was blocked on February 9, for over two hours in India after another satirical animated cartoon featured on the account.Notably, the Union and state governments in India had ordered X to remove about 1,400 posts or accounts between March 2024 and June 2025.The Indian Express has reported that the Union government may also be weighing in to allow the ministries of Home Affairs, External Affairs, Defence, and Information and Broadcasting, in addition to the IT ministry to issue content blocking orders to social media platforms under Section 69 (A) of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000.At present, only MeitY can issue such final directions to social media intermediaries like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube after reviewing requests routed through it.