The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) under the central government has issued an emergency order directing major social media companies like Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, X (formerly Twitter), and Snap to block 177 accounts and links associated with the farmers’ protest in order to maintain public order. This action was taken following a request from the Ministry of Home Affairs. The orders, issued on both February 14 and 19, are temporary and conditional, and the social media companies have the option to restore the blocked accounts and channels after the protest concludes. The accounts targeted include 35 Facebook links, 35 Facebook accounts, 14 Instagram accounts, 42 X accounts, 49 X links, as well as 1 Snapchat and 1 Reddit account. Notably, this is the first time the Centre has issued a blocking order against Snapchat. A meeting of the Section 69A blocking committee was also held, during which representatives from all the mentioned companies, except Reddit, attended. Representatives from Meta and X suggested blocking specific URLs containing the content instead of entire channels, but the committee emphasized the potential for public unrest if the accounts remained active. Some of the prominent accounts suspended include the X account of Manoj Singh Duhan of the Unionist Sikh Mission and Facebook pages supporting gangster-turned-politician Lakha Singh Sidhana.