Internet providers typically receive a list of a handful of websites the Department of Telecommunications wants blocked. The order the department sent on Friday was no different, except this time the list was far longer and it included many of the most popular pornography sites in the world.

“It is a simple letter with instructions to block the aforesaid websites,” Dinesh Chandran, an executive with Asianet Satellite Communication Ltd., said in an interview. The government gives no explanation for why it wants a website blocked, he said, and Internet service providers have little choice but to comply. “For us, the Department of Telecommunications is the government.”

Speaking anonymously, government officials gave different justifications for blocking the websites. An official told The Hindustan Times that the affected sites were “found to be spreading antisocial activities as hyperlinks.” The official did not specify which activities were deemed antisocial. But in The Times of India, an official said the ban was temporary, in place only until the government adopted new regulations to block child pornography.

Either way, the government’s action set off a furious debate. Some, arguing that the government has no business dictating what Indians watch online, accused the conservative Hindus who dominate India’s current government of imposing their morals on an entire nation. Others argued that the ubiquity of online pornography feeds an atmosphere of sexual permissiveness in ways that contribute to India’s epidemic of sex crimes against women.

Some experts on India’s regulation of the Internet said this appeared to be the largest number of websites the government had ever tried to block at one time. Nikhil Pahwa, editor and publisher of MediaNama, which monitors digital policy in India, said he feared that the Modi government was using pornography as “a ruse” to create a government-controlled web filter for India. “This one is a clear attempt by this government to control the Internet in India,” he said in an interview.

“It’s not just one incident. There are numerous battles, all linked to one another, for free speech and Internet freedom that are being fought in the country right now.”