Nikhil Nigade

Statement on the threats received by IFF Over the past three days, IFF, SFLC.in and the operator of @geoblockedindia have received two notices said to be purpotedly issued on behalf of the RSS. As many, including us have indicated they may be fake and we have done this with humour, while also due to their plausible nature disclosing it to our community. The first asked us to stop criticising the Government’s blocking orders and stop documenting them. We replied that it was legally deficient. The second, received today, says the matter has been handed to the Akhil Bharatiya Adhivakta Parishad, that complaints have been filed in several states, and that requests have been made to block our X accounts and suspend our organisations. Some RSS office bearers have publicly said on X that the first notice is not authentic. We had at the time of the first notice itself written to the RSS at its official address to ask whether it authorised either. This evening, X also informed us that it has received a request from the Indian police about one of our posts. We do not yet know who made it or under what law. If it is a legal demand that results in a takedown, we will contest it. We want to be clear about what this is. Over the past three weeks alone, IFF has assisted 86 people whose accounts were suspended or whose posts were withheld in India. We have filed multiple cases for journalists, cartoonists, activists, artists, students, ordinary users. That work is the reason these notices exist as an attempt to bully and harass us. Documenting censorship and challenging it in court is not an offence. It is what the Constitution expects of us. We are a small team of committed constitutionalists. We will not be intimidated by threats, whoever sends them, and we will not be bullied into silence. Our work continues. We will go to court tomorrow and conduct cases, our staff will file RTIs, we will analyse tenders and challenge all forms of digital authoritarianism. We have done this work for more than a decade without fear or favour and IFF will not stop. Solidarity with @SFLCin and @geoblockedindia. If your post or account has been blocked in India, write to [email protected].