Anti-Corruption Website Bribes.fyi Shuts Down 'Indefinitely' After Viral Popularity

Indian anti-corruption website, bribes.fyi, has announced an 'indefinite break', with no aim to open submissions again after achieving overwhelming popularity. The platform allowed users to anonymously report bribery demands. Within the last 48 hours, the site had garnered over five million requests and attracted almost 200,000 new users, completely exhausting its operational capacity and forcing the developers to halt operations.

"Thanks for all the feedback and insights - we are taking an indefinite break and have no plans to enable the submissions again," read the statement on the website.

The website developers said they were not the right custodians for the large amount of data they had received from the public.

"What we did not build was the infrastructure to carry that kind of attention safely, and once it arrived, the honest answer was that we were not the right custodians for it at that scale. Shutting it down was our decision. It was always meant to send a signal, not point fingers. I think the signal was sent."

Manish Sahani, a tech professional at Amazon, shared an update on LinkedIn regarding his product and strategy work for the platform developed by engineering student Aryan Nishad.

"We have decided to shut it down to prevent any misuse of the platform. Thanks for support!" wrote Sahani. Meanwhile, Nishad sought help from lawyers and chartered accountants regarding the website.

Reacting to the closure news, social media users urged Nishad and Sahani to keep the platform decentralised and add legal governance measures to ensure it continues to serve the public.

"If scale and misuse are the reasons for you to shut it down, it's really unfortunate. Those problems can be solved," said one user, while another added: "A great initiative, but since the platform collects public reports about alleged bribery, privacy and legal governance should be built in from day one."

A third commented: "At this point, I'm just confused. It had such great potential, especially because it was solving a real and significant problem in India. Stopping it so suddenly seems strange."

A fourth said: "I'd suggest keep it decentralised and transparent so that no official can forcefully take it down. It's a great initiative and the anti-corruption bureau should support this.

What Was Bribes.fyi?

Bribes.fyi had emerged as a platform where users could anonymously report details of bribes they were asked to pay, including the role, amount and department involved.

The website allowed users to compare the number of reported bribes across different departments, providing an overview of the reports submitted through the platform.

The departments mentioned on the website include the Police, RTO, Revenue/Land Records, Passport Office, Municipal Corporation, GST Office, Electricity Board, Income Tax, and Food and Drug Administration.