Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has added two Indian entities the Adani Group and the website OpIndia to its 2025 “Press Freedom Predators” list, accusing them of promoting judicial intimidation and online harassment against critical media voices. The list accompanies RSF’s annual World Press Freedom Index and highlights those who undermine journalism through legal pressure, economic influence, disinformation campaigns and digital attacks.
RSF describes the Adani Group, led by Gautam Adani, as a powerful conglomerate closely aligned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to the organisation, Adani and his subsidiaries have filed around 10 legal cases against more than 15 journalists and media organisations since 2017. RSF calls this a “systematic use of gag suits” designed to silence independent reporting through civil and criminal defamation actions.
The group’s 2025 “hit list,” as documented by RSF, includes two major civil and criminal defamation suits targeting eight journalists and three media outlets. In these cases, courts granted an ex parte injunction allowing Adani to decide what content was “defamatory” without a hearing. RSF notes that this order was extended even to unnamed third parties, raising concerns about “unlimited censorship.” Soon after, takedown notices were issued to The Wire, Newslaundry, HW News and independent journalist Ravish Kumar. RSF identifies the conglomerate’s “deadly weapon” as its use of gag suits.
OpIndia has also been included for what RSF calls its reliance on conspiracy theories to discredit critical journalists. The organisation says the Hindu nationalist website repeatedly targets media workers who scrutinise the government, presenting itself as fighting a so-called “liberal media cartel.” RSF says OpIndia uses troll networks to spread narratives that claim journalists are part of an “anti Indian lobby” or what it calls a “Soros ecosystem,” referencing US philanthropist George Soros.
RSF’s 2025 “hit list” for OpIndia includes 96 pieces targeting journalists and media outlets, as well as a 200 page “report” built on conspiracy theories accusing journalists of running a “narrative war” aimed at “regime change.” RSF notes that these articles often lead to coordinated waves of online harassment against the individuals named.
Also named in this year’s list are the Israel Defence Forces for the killing of nearly 220 journalists during the Gaza conflict under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Myanmar’s State Peace and Security Commission, Burkina Faso’s military junta led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré, and billionaire Elon Musk, who RSF says uses his platform X to attack journalists.
In its introduction, RSF said that 2025’s predators are marked by their increased use of technology to suppress press freedom, citing OpIndia as a prime example.
