Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called for a legal investigation into what it describes as sustained cyberharassment campaigns against journalists in India, linking them to content published by the website OpIndia.
In a press statement, RSF says that an investigation covering October 2023 to September 2025, RSF documented more than 300 articles published by the platform that targeted journalists and independent media outlets.
According to RSF’s analysis, OpIndia published at least 314 articles aimed at the press during this period. Of these, 208 articles explicitly named 134 journalists, while others targetted them indirectly or focussed on independent news organisations. RSF found that more than 200 of these articles used pejorative labels such as “fake news,” “anti-national,” or “biased” to describe journalists.
It adds that for 2025 alone, between January and September, RSF recorded 91 articles targetting journalists and media outlets, 43 of these focused on just five journalists Arfa Khanum Sherwani, Mohammed Zubair, Rajdeep Sardesai, Ravish Kumar and Rana Ayyub.
RSF noted that 32 of these 43 articles were followed by immediate spikes in online harassment, including coordinated trolling and threats on social media platforms.
RSF’s findings indicate that these harassment waves were often amplified by a small network of social media accounts that regularly share OpIndia content, some of which are followed by the site’s administrators.
It adds that in several cases, RSF identified coordination through public Telegram groups linked to Hindu nationalist networks, where calls were made to target journalists online.
It further adds that the journalists most frequently targeted during the two-year period included Rajdeep Sardesai (36 articles), Arfa Khanum Sherwani (18), Mohammed Zubair (15), Mahesh Langa (13), Ravish Kumar (11) and Rana Ayyub and Prabir Purkayastha (10 each). Foreign correspondents such as Hannah Ellis-Petersen of The Guardian and Avani Dias of ABC News were also among those targeted.
RSF also documented cases where OpIndia publications coincided with large-scale online abuse following specific events. After journalist Dhanya Rajendran was nominated for the 2025 RSF Impact Prize, an OpIndia article was followed by thousands of social media posts accusing her of foreign funding and calling for her arrest. In another instance, articles targetting Mohammed Zubair in June 2025 were followed by a fourfold increase in hostile posts within 24 hours.
Following RSF’s decision to include OpIndia on its 2025 Press Freedom Predators list, the website published content attacking RSF and alleging, without evidence, that the organisation is involved in international “regime change” efforts.
RSF has urged the Indian public prosecutor to investigate the cyber-harassment campaigns linked to these publications. It adds that the organisation has also called on social media platforms to act against content that fuels harassment and on Google to review OpIndia’s continued access to advertising revenue through Google AdSense, citing the platform’s own policies against hateful and discriminatory content.
RSF said the patterns identified in its investigation point to a broader environment in which journalists in India face sustained online intimidation linked to organised networks and media platforms, raising concerns about press freedom and journalist safety.
“OpIndia is a central cog in the systematic harassment of journalists in India, which puts them in very real danger. RSF calls on the Indian justice system to investigate the cyber-harassment campaigns linked to these publications. Online platforms, particularly X, must act to remove the hateful content fuelling these attacks. What’s more, it seems that Google AdSense’s continued funding of this site is incompatible with its misconduct. The fight against online harassment is key in protecting journalists and press freedom in India,” says Anne Bocandé, Editorial Director, RSF.