The central government issued directions for blocking 3,470 URLs in 2023 under provisions of the IT Act, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

Section 69A of the IT Act provides power to the central government to issue directions to block any information if it is necessary to do so in the interest of sovereignty and integrity, defence of India, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States or public order, Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

"The Central Government has issued directions for blocking of 6,096, 6,775 and 3,470 URLs in the year 2021, 2022 and 2023, respectively," the minister added.

He was specifically replying to a question on orders served by the government to social media platforms to take down content, hampering the digital safety of citizens since 2021.

The policies of the government are aimed at ensuring an open, safe and trusted and accountable internet for all digital nagriks, he said.

The IT Act penalises various offences relating to computer resources, including tampering with computer source documents (section 65), dishonestly or fraudulently damaging computer systems (section 66), identity theft (section 66C), cheating by impersonation (section 66D), the minister said.

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