In March 2022, we filed a right to information (‘RTI’) application with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (‘MeitY’) seeking statistical information on the directions it issued to block content on the internet. MeitY’s reply reveals that it blocked 6096 URLs and 347 applications in 2021. However, the committee responsible for recommending these directions only conducted 39 meetings in 2021. This means that on average the committee recommended blocking 166 URLs/applications in every meeting! This suggests that the committee does not apply its mind to the request for blocking it receives and/or it does not hear the individuals whose content they recommend should be blocked.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://internetfreedom.in/revealed-meity-blocked-6096-urls-and-347-applications-in-2021-but-held-less-than-40-hearings/