The blocking of individual accounts is unconstitutional because it falls beyond the purview of the Information Technology Act, Twitter has argued while challenging a government order to take down 34 accounts that the social media company has described as a “disproportionate” use power in a petition filed in the Karnataka high court.
Twitter said in the petition that, since February 2, 2021, the government asked for a total if 1,474 accounts and 175 tweets to be taken down. These orders, the company added, were sent Section 69(A) of the IT Act, which allows the Centre to restrict access to content that poses a threat to public order or in the interest of national security, sovereignty and integrity of the country. All orders issued under the provision are confidential.
The social media firm said that while it complied with most of the requests, it was challenging the order to block 34 accounts and five posts. The list of accounts — mostly belonging to identifiable public figures — has been submitted to the court in a sealed envelope, people aware of the matter said, asking not to be named.
“The content available in the accounts of politicians, activists and journalists would show that the respondents (Union government) have not shown how they disrupt public order. There is no imminent threat to public order,” said the petition, which HT has seen.
“There is non-application of mind by the respondents (the Union ministry of electronics and information technology) for failing to test the content with respect to the class of readers the rules are meant for (Maharahstra vs Sangharaj Damodar Rupawate, supra). A vast majority of the tweets are read by users who consume political or newsworthy content, who are literate and can reasonably perceive the full context,” the petition added.
The ministry but did not respond to questions seeking comment on the details of the petition.
Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said any company, in any sector, should abide by India’s laws. “This is the responsibility of everyone to abide by the laws passed by the Parliament,” he told ANI on Tuesday.
Twitter also argued in the petition that safeguards are built into the very structure of the IT Act. “The very language ‘procedures and safeguards’ indicates the Parliament’s intent to… prevent the misuse of section 69 (A) blocking power rather than expanding it,” it said.
A large number of requests, according to some details released by the ministry, when the blocking orders were issued last year, pertained to a controversial hashtag about the Prime Minister during the protests against three farm laws that were later revoked; the Khalistan movement; and criticism of the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The government draws its powers to direct social media companies on content decisions from Section 69 of the IT Act. This provision gives the government to act against posts and accounts on grounds that that pose a threat to public order or the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states among others. The order to block a post or account is passed by a designated officer appointed by the central government who chairs an inter-ministerial committee comprising officials from the ministries of Law and Justice, Home Affairs, Information and Broadcasting and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In).
The trigger for the petition, according to its contents, appeared to be a June 30, 2022 meeting in which the interministerial committee discussed 11 accounts it had flagged to Twitter that the government sought to be blocked. According to the petition, the ministry later agreed that the take-down orders for 10 accounts can be revoked, and asked Twitter to restrict access to only one account.
The petition added that the government revoked the request to block the 10 accounts on July 1, but asked Twitter to take down 15 other accounts and 12 tweets. It said that Twitter complied “under protest”, and placed its objection on record with the committee.
The petition was filed just four days later.
Twitter is the second major tech company to have sued the Indian government. Meta-owned WhatsApp challenged the government IT Rules, 2021, which was released in the aftermath of the dispute with Twitter last year, for being unconstitutional. The rules sought to give the government even broader powers over the online content, and has since been stayed by multiple high courts.
On Tuesday, Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had said work on making social media platforms accountable was ongoing. “An ecosystem, thought process that social media should be held accountable, is spreading in our country as well as globally…Rapid work underway on how to make it accountable… Be it any company, in any sector, they should abide by the laws of India. This is the responsibility of everyone to abide by the laws passed by Parliament,” he said.
NS Nappinai, Supreme Court lawyer, said that the case will stand since it is a specific prayer. “They have approached for particular cases and seems sustainable,” she said.