With the rising state of surveillance from authorities, the news of a viral post stating that India’s Income Tax Department will gain the power to access taxpayers’ private social media accounts, emails, bank accounts and other digital data as part of routine tax enforcement sparked a lot of frenzy and concern.
With India set to replace the long-standing 1961 Act with a modernised law, many have questioned what the new provisions actually mean for everyday taxpayers. And it seems some are taking the opportunity to spread fake news.
The PIB ran a fact check and revealed that the claims of the viral post were not true.
What Did The Fact Check Reveal?
A few days ago, a post by the X/Twitter Indian Tech & infra @IndianTechGuide started to go viral, where they claimed that the Income Tax Department will be able to access the social media accounts and email handles of citizens from April 1, 2026.
In their post, they wrote, “Starting April 1, 2026, the Income Tax Department will have the authority to access social media, emails and other platforms to curb tax evasion.”
This understandably created a lot of panic and anger among the general public, who feared for their right to privacy and the ethical implications of cybersecurity this posed. Many started to call out the Income Tax Department, believing this news and how this should not be allowed.
However, soon after, the Press Information Bureau’s (PIB) Fact Check unit came out with the truth, stating that the viral post was fake and not true.
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A fact check posted by PIB Fact Check on X/Twitter wrote that “A post by Indian Tech Guide claims that from April 1, 2026, the Income Tax Department will have the ‘authority’ to access your social media, emails, and other digital platforms to curb tax evasion. The claim being made in this post is #misleading.”
The post further clarified that “The provisions of Section 247 of the Income Tax Act 2025 are strictly limited to search and survey operations. Unless a taxpayer is undergoing a formal search operation due to evidence of significant tax evasion, the department has no power to access their private digital spaces.
The powers cannot be used for routine information gathering/processing, or even for cases under scrutiny assessment. These measures are specifically designed to target black money and large-scale evasion during search and survey, not the everyday law-abiding citizen.
The power to seize documents and evidence during search and survey operations has existed since the 1961 Act.”
Another fact check done by Factly over the claim “The Income Tax Department will have the authority to access individuals’ emails and social media accounts to curb tax evasion starting 01 April 2026” reported that it was misleading.
The report stated, “The new Section 247 in the Income Tax Act, 2025, does not introduce any new powers. It simply extends the existing search and seizure rules to include digital data such as emails, electronic files, and records stored in the cloud within the lawful scope of a search.”
It also added that, “Section 247 does not grant tax authorities any permission to spy on individuals or read personal messages. As in the earlier Section 132, records can be examined only during a lawful search or survey. Such actions can be taken only when there is clear evidence of tax evasion and prior approval from senior authorities. Individuals’ right to privacy remains fully protected, and the right to challenge any misuse of powers in court continues unchanged.”
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: The Economic Times, Firstpost, Mint
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: Income Tax, Income Tax india, Income Tax department, india Income Tax department, income tax social media, tax evasion, black money, Income Tax Department Access Social Media, Income Tax Department Powers 2026, PIB Fact Check Social Media, Misleading news, Taxpayer Privacy, Income Tax Act 2025
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