MeitY issues notice to Twitter for restoring handles

Twitter has unblocked 100 Twitter accounts and 150 tweets despite a government order to block them for posting controversial tweets

by exchange4media Staff
Published: Feb 4, 2021 11:35 AM | 2 min read

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has threatened to take punitive action against social media platform Twitter for failing to follow its order about the blocking of 257 URLs and 1 Hashtag.

Twitter has unblocked 100 Twitter accounts and 150 tweets despite a government order to block them for posting controversial tweets related to the protests against the farm laws. The ministry issued a notice to Twitter saying that the platform was in violation of the Information Technology Act’s Section 69 that provides for seven-year imprisonment.

“This is a motivated campaign to abuse, inflame and create tension in society on unsubstantiated grounds. Incitement to Genocide is Not Freedom of Speech; It is Threat to Law & Order,” the MeitY notice said.

The government noted that it is essential to block these handles and tweets in order to ensure public order. “Having considered in totality, the contents of the interim order, the oral submissions of the advocate/representative of Twitter at the Committee meeting, and also the mail from Twitter expressing its disobedience of the legal blocking orders, the competent authority is satisfied that it is necessary and also expedient in the interest of public order and also for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence relating to public order that Twitter, as an intermediary under section 2[1][w] of the act is once again directed to block for access by the public, the said Twitter handles and also the said hashtag with immediate effect...”

While reminding Twitter of adhering to Indian law, the notice added that Twitter has no “constitutional, statutory or any legal basis whatsoever to comment upon the interplay of statutory provisions with constitutional principles or to unilaterally read down the scope of statutory provisions as per its own limited private understanding of the constitutional and statutory laws of India”.

The notice also states that Twitter being an intermediary is obliged to obey the directions as per the satisfaction of authorities as to which information content will arouse passion and impact public order.

Twitter had temporarily withdrawn handles of Kisan Ekta Morcha, the organisation at the forefront of farmers' protest, Caravan magazine, Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar, activist Hansraj Meena, former Lok Sabha member Mohammed Salim, and actor Sushant Singh, among others. However, the social media platform restored all the accounts by evening.

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Published On: Feb 4, 2021 11:35 AM

Tags Twitter MeitY farmers protest