This is the second time the Indian government has taken action to ban pornographic websites. In 2018, authorities had blocked access to 827 porn websites on the orders of the Uttarakhand High Court.  In 2015, the government had temporarily banned more than 800 pornographic websites which had created a public outcry. Those sites were part of a petition filed in the Supreme Court. Although the court had not explicitly ordered a ban, the Additional Solicitor General of India had ordered internet service providers to take the sites The government later relented, and the ban on the sites was lifted, saying that only child porn needs to be blocked.