AIM condemns the blocking of Vikatan website by the government

Association of India Magazines (AIM) is disturbed by the arbitrary blocking of the website vikatan.com (published by the Tamil magazine publisher Ananda Vikatan), by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), on February 15, 2025. 

As per the statement issued by the publisher, this blocking was done following a complaint file by Tamil Nadu BJP President K. Annamalai, to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) on February 15, 2025 itself, over a political cartoon published in Vikatan Plus. 

The immediate and swift action by MeitY on the same day is disturbing. There was no notice issued to the publisher, no opportunity to be heard, and not even a formal order shared by MeitY before the entire website was blocked, purportedly in response to a mere complaint by the state head of the ruling party. The complaint was against publishing political satire, which has forever been an integral part of journalistic expression.  

Further, as per Vikatan’s statement, the same day officials from the Press Bureau of India also visited their registered office to inquire whether Vikatan Plus was available in print. It was clarified that the magazine  was a digital-only publication. 

In an ironic sequence of events, a day after the website (which attracts a monthly user base of close to 90 lakhs), was unjustifiably blocked, the publishers were served a notice by the MIB, informing them that a meeting of the Inter-Departmental Committee constituted under the Information Technology (Intermediary  Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules 2021), had been called on 17.02.2025 at  4:00 PM, to consider the request for blocking of the content in question.