MediaNama’s Take
The government is extending the Sahyog portal beyond its earlier focus on social media intermediaries and into e-commerce. This expansion brings new challenges. First, the Right to Information (RTI) reply that MediaNama received withheld the government’s communications with companies, citing Section 8(1)(a) of the RTI Act. Consequently, it is unclear whether platforms are being told to join voluntarily or not.
Moreover, onboarding raises a compliance dilemma. Many e-commerce marketplaces operate under Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) rules that prohibit them from directly or indirectly altering seller content. Sahyog, however, requires platforms to respond to takedown notices about unlawful listings.
In practice, this expectation could push marketplaces into actions that conflict with FDI restrictions. The fact that the RTI reply confirms all onboarding is happening manually also shows the process is still rudimentary.
Notably, Ola and Uber are absent from the list despite their history of safety-related complaints. In December 2024, a Gurugram woman reported that Ola’s in-app SOS button failed when she tried to use it in a threatening situation, forcing her to flee the cab.
She later told MediaNama that her complaint went unanswered for more than 24 hours. Such incidents highlight the risks associated with ride-hailing services and illustrate where Sahyog could help by fast-tracking law enforcement requests for driver details or enforcing compliance with safety rules. The fact that the RTI reply does not mention Ola and Uber makes the application of Sahyog appear selective.
Finally, all this is unfolding while the portal itself remains contested in court. X (formerly Twitter) has argued before the Karnataka High Court (HC) that Sahyog bypasses the safeguards built into Section 69A of the IT Act and Shreya Singhal ruling. Nevertheless, the government continues to expand Sahyog without clarifying these legal concerns.
What’s the News
The government has revealed the names of eleven e-commerce companies that are onboarding the Sahyog portal manually in response to an RTI that MediaNama filed. The RTI reply named Nykaa, Zomato, Blinkit, Flipkart, Amazon, Urban Company, Shiprocket, Reliance Retail, OLX India, Meesho, and Indiamart, and then added “etc.”
This wording indicates that more companies are involved. Notably, the reply did not provide the date of onboarding for these platforms.
For context, MediaNama filed the RTI seeking details of which e-commerce companies had onboarded or were in the process of onboarding the Sahyog portal as of August 6, 2025.
We asked for the date of onboarding (if applicable), mode of integration, and the current status of onboarding. The RTI also sought copies of government communications sent by the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) or the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) to e-commerce platforms.
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