Popular developer database platform Supabase faces disruption in India, where one of its major markets Supabase is blocked, TechCrunch has learned. New Delhi ordered internet providers to block the website, resulting in patchy access across the network.
The blocking order was issued on February 24 under Section 69A of the Indian Information Technology Act, officials said. This provision allows governments to restrict public access to online content.
The Indian government did not make public the reason for the move, and it was not immediately clear whether the move was related to cybersecurity concerns, copyright infringement, or another issue. It was unclear how long the restrictions would last.
Access to Supabase has been unstable in India for the past few days, and the San Francisco-based company acknowledged the issue in a social media post starting Wednesday. The restriction was first reported by Supabase on Reliance Industries’ JioFiber network, but users have since reported similar issues across multiple internet providers and telecom networks. In one post on Friday, Supabase tagged India’s IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and asked her to intervene and restore access, but the company later deleted the message and said in a subsequent update that the site remained blocked for many users in the country.
An Indian founder, who requested anonymity to avoid potential repercussions, told TechCrunch that the company has stopped seeing new user signups from India in the past few days. A technology consultant working with a local startup said on condition of anonymity that he could not reliably access Supabase for both development and operations purposes.
Supabase suggested workarounds such as switching DNS settings and VPNs (which reroute internet traffic to bypass local restrictions), but the founder said such steps are not practical for most end users.
At the time of publishing this article, TechCrunch could confirm that supabase.co remains inaccessible on ACT Fibernet, JioFiber, and Airtel connections in New Delhi. However, two users of ACT Fibernet in Bengaluru said they were still able to access the service, suggesting the restrictions may be unevenly enforced.
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Notably, while Supabase’s main website remained accessible in India, its underlying developer infrastructure was not.
According to Samelweb data, India is Supabase’s fourth largest traffic source, accounting for around 9% of global visitors, highlighting the potential impact on the country’s developer ecosystem. The platform’s global traffic increased by more than 111% year-over-year in January, reaching approximately 4.2 million visitors. Visitor numbers in India increased by about 179% to about 365,000, while in the US they increased by 168.5% to about 627,000.
Raman Jit Singh Chima, Asia-Pacific policy director at Access Now, said the incident highlighted widespread concerns about India’s website blocking regime.
“This is a simple fact that has significant implications for developers and others,” he told TechCrunch. “You don’t know where you can safely run your project without risking something happening in a blocked area, and all of a sudden you’re scrambling to figure out how to do it.”
India has faced criticism in the past for its widespread website blocking measures. In 2014, authorities temporarily restricted access to developer platform GitHub, along with services such as Vimeo, Pastebin, and Weebly, during a security investigation. According to previous reports, in 2023, users of some Indian networks also reported that key GitHub content domains were blocked by certain ISPs.
Founded in 2020 by CEO Paul Copplestone and CTO Ant Wilson, Supabase positions itself as an open source alternative to Firebase built on PostgreSQL. The startup has gained momentum amid growing interest in so-called “vibe coding” tools and AI-driven app development, raising about $380 million in three funding rounds since September 2024, pushing its valuation to $5 billion.
India’s Ministry of Electronics and IT and telecom providers including ACT Fibernet, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio did not respond to requests for comment. Copplestone and Wilson also did not respond.
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